Hi everyone! I'm back with another update to 50,000 Volts. Enjoy!

Chapter fifty-six: Two Strangers in a Strange Land

Not long after George had left us in Cerulean City, and our new adventure began, our first obstacle is to figure out where to head from here…since Rigel already has the Cascade Badge.

"Well then…we ought to head over to Saffron City!" Rigel suggested; however, Jennifer shook her head to him, "if you ask me, we should take Route 9."

"T-to Lavender Town!?" Rigel gasped in retaliation, his Pikachu almost falling off as a result of his sudden jolt backward.

The girl rolled her head sideways back to him, "Um, what gives?" She raised an eyebrow, clueless, but I knew…I too felt nervous about her willingness to go down that path toward that cursed place…

I've heard stories regarding Lavender…none of it good…

I nudge her in a vain attempt to change her mind, but she's adamant.

"Don't you know?" Rigel retorted.

"I'm not from here, remember?" Jennifer crossed her arms in defense.

"Well, I'm telling you…that town is cursed! You're crazy if you think it's a good idea to go there still!"

She simply laughed at the boy's explanation. Soon after, though, she turns around and thinks to herself. The red-haired girl scratches her chiseled chin; oh boy…I know this won't end well…

A mischievous thought had crossed her mind at that moment, "even better," she turns around to glance at the smaller trainer, "I like places with urban legends surrounding them! Sounds like fun!"

"It's not fun, trust me" the boy shook his head, "and it's not a legend, the stories are real!"

Jen, again, crossed her arms as I looked over at her. Before I can give my piece, she finally yields, "alright, fine…we'll go your way, party pooper!" She sticks her tongue out to the teen who jumps and, somewhat, growls at her for that. Sure enough, though, he composes himself and sighs, "thank you!" He muttered with Orion on his shoulder copying his relief.

Unfortunately, that respite would not last for very long, for the road leading to Saffron City, our intended destination, is blocked off. We had traveled through Route 5 for nothing and now we're forced to turn around.

"Well…what now…" Rigel grumbled in irritation.

Jennifer couldn't help but grin, "I guess we're NOT going on this adventure…" she can't help but keep her head in the frame next to Rigel, holding her smile, "unlesssss…"

"No!"

She pulled away suddenly, pretending to be surprised, holding a hand to her chest in fake shock, "I thought you wanted to be a Pokémon Master? You want to be one, don't you?"

I slap my paw on my face immediately afterward, I forgot how daring Jen actually is…and how stubborn she actually can be…

"Of course, we do!" Orion retorted, quite distastefully, toward her. It appears he's had enough antics from her for one day.

She simply folded her arms in defense, "look, let's just check it out at least, maybe we can find a way around without having to take Cerulean…" the red-haired girl asked snippily.

The smaller trainer put a finger on his chin in thought: he knew if they had gone back to Cerulean for Pewter it would be a LONG journey and his eagerness to get to Saffron City is immeasurable! And so, with a sigh, he finally agreed…much to my and Orion's protest. Even so, we had to follow them, and our group eventually began heading back to the city for Route 9.

Inside me is a trickle of worry, but also optimism…maybe for all its stories Lavender Town won't be so bad after all? One can only hope…I'm not exactly the type of person who's hard to scare, mind you…

Our journey to the "ghost town" has slowed a bit, by the afternoon we found ourselves on the outskirts. We had entered a rocky corridor of Route 9 that's surrounded by an extensive canyon-like system.

Rigel walks next to Jennifer Jenson and me, noticing a glint coming from inside her red jacket, "what are those?"

Jen looks down before grinning widely, flattered that the teen had asked, "oh, you noticed! These are my Sinnoh badges!" She moved the side of her outwear to display four unique badges she earned as a trainer in the Sinnoh League. The young adult places a delicate finger on each one, "this is the Coal Badge, and this is the Forest Badge. Here's the Fen Badge and Beacon Badge! Lemme tell 'ya, they weren't easy to get!"

"Neat, so…are there other kinds of Pokémon where you and Lucas are from?" Rigel rolled his head to the side as she and I nodded.

"Sure is! Unfortunately, they're still in my PC for the time being."

"That's a shame" Rigel looks away disapprovingly. Orion, on his shoulder, gave a curious look…his ears falling to the side. What must they look like, I can't imagine just how many Pokémon exist in the world…I wonder if we'll ever get to meet them all? Orion had thought to himself, I guess I ought to ask Lucas, he's been to Sinnoh…he's probably seen hundreds of Pokémon not native here.

Orion would ask me later, however, because Jennifer turned back to the boy and said, "I only brought my Eevee" which seemed to catch Orion's attention. He's never been around the foxlike Pokémon. Yes, he's seen a couple from time to time, but he was kind of curious…they were particularly popular in the region, and their ability to evolve into different versions fascinated Orion.

His wish to see one up close is fulfilled when his human partner smiles and asked, "can we see them?"

"I suppose so" she takes out her Pokéball from her belt. She stops and aims it on the floor beside them, releasing her partner from the sphere. I shield my eyes for a moment from the flash before seeing the female Eevee for the first time in a long time.

"Hey, Eev! These are some friends" she gestures to Rigel and Orion before introducing them. Suddenly, she turns to me with a pointed hand, "and this is Lucas."

Eev is confused, especially once I opened my mouth to say hi. She immediately recognized my voice, "it's me, Lucas Bright" I said in Pokémon tongue.

She hops backward in shock, rightfully surprised by this revelation, "y-you!? H-how?"

"I guess you told her, didn't you, Bright?" Jen asked me before I nodded.

"You're Lucas…the human…Jen's human friend!?" The vixen muttered.

I shrugged in return, "what other person you know is called Lucas, heh…" I retorted softly; I couldn't help but wink to her at that.

"What happened to you?"

"It's a long story, I'll keep it short" I finished before beginning my explanations.

Sure enough, as we make our way through the rocky interior of Route 9, I explain everything to her…though I kept most of it short. The Eevee, on Jen's other shoulder, appeared to listen intently to everything I had to say. I got say…it's so weird to be able to talk to the creature after only being able to hear her growls and her name being muttered. I've known Eev for a while, but now we can finally share stuff …it's insane honestly. Naturally, she started asking questions and I answer the best way I can. Eventually, she concedes and like Orion…finally accepts…especially when her trainer backs up my claims.

Anyways, our group travels through the small rocky canyon, on our way to Route 10. The bright sun hangs over us, baking the walls until we see heat lines emerge on the horizon.

"It's…so…hot!" Orion panted like a dog, trying to shake away the heat. I can't help but agree, that this area is vastly different from the temperate areas we were in not too long ago.

Eventually, we run into a patch of grass. There, Jennifer squints her eyes and manages to spot something moving in the tall grass, "Rigel…" she whispered in his ear, getting the boy's attention. The trainer stops, with Orion sensing the unknown creature hidden in front of them.

"A Pokémon?" He looks to Jennifer who nods, "I'll let you do the honors."

"A-alright" he shrugs a bit as Orion grins confidently…slamming a fist into his other palm. Once he steps into the grass, the beast jumps out at him!

The humans take a step back as the wild Pokémon stomped toward us in anger. It's a rodent-like creature with a bluish hue…with piercing red eyes. Rigel takes out his Pokédex and aims it at the creature. The PDA analyzes it quickly, the speakers ringing loudly in our ears:

Nidoran. Although small, its venomous barbs render this Pokémon dangerous. The female has smaller horns.

"It's a poison-type…" Rigel mutters softly, carefully eyeing the data being shown while his Pikachu leans over to check also. Orion, with his knowledge of English considerably better than when he first attempted to read, can understand some words shown on screen, "it doesn't look tough, I can take it!"

Eev looks up, having jumped from Jen's back, "Then let's see you have a go at it" she retorted.

Eevee watches the fight commence as she looks up at me, "that Pikachu is quite brash, isn't he?"

"Don't remind me" I chuckled silently.

Sure enough, the Nidoran charges for the teenager and his Pokémon! "Watch out!" Jennifer yelled worryingly.

The group disperses as the female Nidoran focused on Rigel and Orion.

"A-alright then Rigel…what should we do…" I heard Rigel say softly under his breath. My long, rabbit-like, ears can listen in on what is said. I silently slap my hand on my forehead.

"Just attack it as you normally would, just don't use grass types" Jen offers support

"Th…Thunder…Bolt!" I yelled to Rigel in my slurred human speech. The teen looks over and nods.

The wild Pokémon attempts to scratch the trainer, but his partner jumps off his shoulder and kicks the aggressor away in mid-air! As a follow-up attack, Orion yells and unleashes a ThunderBolt in its direction. The Nidoran narrowly dodges and releases a single poisonous needle in return.

"Quick attack!" Rigel shouted. There you go, I thought, smiling inwardly.

Orion sidesteps the incoming projectile and strikes the opposing foe hard with his side.

"You got this kid" Jennifer cheers from behind as I follow her with my cheers.

The Nido is injured greatly, almost to the point of fainting.

"Rigel, you got two choices: finish them off or attempt to capture them" the girl explains; however, the boy looks back at her with an irritated expression, "this isn't my first Pokémon encounter, 'ya know!"

As he turns away, she looks at me and I can't help but shrug back. Jennifer giggles in return while the Nidoran gives one last attempt to defeat the teenage trainer.

Rigel decides to capture the Pokémon. He pulls out a red/white sphere and chucks it at the female Pokémon before it can retaliate! They are surrounded by a bright red light as Orion, standing in front of them, waves goodbye to them in an impish manner. The ball falls to the ground, shaking repeatably: the button in the middle blinks red. Everyone held their breath for the outcome. Sure enough, the ball stops and clicks loudly!

Rigel just captured Nidoran!

Everyone, including myself, cheer for him before the latter picks up the ball from the ground. Before long, he spins around and gives an over-the-top pose for us…with Orion jumping on his back to join him, "we caught Nidoran!"

Jen chuckles, clapping in return for their victory.

"N…nice…one, Rigel" I nodded.

"Thanks, Lucas!"

"That Pikachu has got guts, I'll give him that" Eev mutters before I chuckle back at her.

Some time passes by as the sun hangs barely above the horizon. We've almost made it through the canyon in one piece, having run into some other trainers wishing to fight. Our group managed to defeat them all one by one. Still, we have a bit of land to cover before reaching Route 10 for Lavender Town. We're having "lunch" by this point but it's really just dinner since it's pretty late. By the looks of things, we'll be camping around here till tomorrow morning…everyone is exhausted from our travels.

Jennifer hangs her jacket on a tree branch after she got a campfire going for the group. Jen sat down next to the teen trainer and his Pikachu before serving the food to everyone.

"Nice job today, kid" she began as Eev ate a rice ball beside her female trainer.

"Thanks" Rigel smiled before devouring his food.

"Nice job…more like…great job!" Orion grunted, folding his arms momentarily.

After I'm done eating, I stare into the aging, red-yellow, sky as Jen turns to the boy yet again, "so, if you don't mind me asking, what got you to start late on your Pokémon journey?" As soon as she asked that, my trance is broken, and I raise an eyebrow toward Rigel.

"Me?" Rigel points to himself as if there's anyone else she's referring to…

"No, the tree behind you, of course, you, silly! You're like what…fourteen?"

The teen shrugged, "I didn't feel comfortable starting when I turned ten."

I give him a side-eye at this…wait a minute, I realized I never actually asked him this question…it's quite shocking, to say the least…no pun intended. I gaze toward the boy, thinking deep down about what he just said. In all honesty it's true…he DID start late…as I had…

I mean…I tried to start YEARS later in my twenties…maybe…Rigel and I aren't so different after all?

"It's never…too…late…" I muttered, placing a paw on Rigel's leg after walking up to him.

He and Orion look down at me, they can see the shine in my eyes…both reflecting encouragement and regret.

"I made…that decision to start…even if late…" I muttered, quite softly too. Jennifer can't help but nod in silence at this, remembering our conversation in Sinnoh a while back.

"You…won't…regret it…" I finished, looking away.

"I appreciate it, Lucas, it's great to have you with us."

"Really, it is" Orion added.

Eev can't help but scoff playfully in my direction, "yup…that sounds an awful lot like the Lucas Bright I know from Jennifer."

Jen stood up, adding more wood to the campfire, "that was his dream…he told me when he was human how he wanted to start at his age, despite not being a kid anymore. He's absolutely right, better late than never!"

"What about you…when did you start?" Rigel asked the young woman across from him as she drinks a bottle of Oran berry smoothie she had made for herself.

"Ten, like everyone else in my class" she replied, putting the drink down beside her.

"B-but, you never finished your journey…why?"

At first, Jenson appears uncomfortable, for some reason looking to me, but I actually never asked her this same question before.

Jennifer looks away, closing her eyes, "I…I…I'll tell you all some other time…I'm really exhausted…" she deflected our attempts, "I rather not talk about it right now…"

"Oh, come on, please tell us!" Rigel insists but I suddenly stop him, noticing how uncomfortable Jen had gotten.

Sure enough, silence dominates the air before we all decide to drop the conversation. I look up at the sky to see it quickly darkening.

I wonder what exactly is going on with Jennifer…is she hiding something? What is it and why would she even do such a thing? I guess I shouldn't dwell on it for long…we've got a long day ahead tomorrow, might as well leave it be for now and get some rest.

Unfortunately, the thought kept me awake for some time…

Phew! I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter, I hope to see you all next time, take care!