On The Road

So many bikes built for off-road were terrible on actual gravel. But this Pan-Unovan Harley wasn't one of those bikes. Although the bridge connecting Eterna City to Route 207 was not at all a long one, it was long enough of a ride for Chris to suspect that he made the right choice. How it would handle going through Mt. Coronet would solidify his decision.

Once he was past the bridge, he decided to see what kind of Pokémon he might be able to find below the bridge. After capturing a few, he took a few seconds sitting by his Marshtomp and Monferno as the three watched the wild Pokémon go about their business. Watching some herds of Ponyta running along Route 202 was something that he watched with a smile on his face as he rests on the grass.

As the sun starts to set, Chris checks his watch to see the time, and decides to head back to Oreburgh City. Since there wouldn't be a big time gym badge discount at the hotel he stayed at last time this time around, Chris instead opted for a cheap hotel room. He knew enough about Oreburgh to know that it would be safe enough. He heads out to a restaurant by himself for dinner, a brand new pair of headphones in his ears as he listens to the music downloaded onto his phone.

As he listens to old Def Leppard riffs while waiting on his food, Chris can't help but take a look around the restaurant. While he does so, he watches a guy across the room get down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend. It captures his attention completely, as his thoughts can't help but drift between Dawn and Danielle. He frowns, his mind brewing a storm as he wrestles internally with his feelings towards the both of them.

Once people started to clap as the guy's girlfriend says yes, Chris comes out of his train of thought. Although he couldn't hear people clapping because of the music in his ears, he could see them clapping. He started doing the same so as not to be the one jerk who wasn't, then pulled out his phone once the moment was over. He went through his contacts list until he scrolled down to Looker's name. He pressed "call" on his phone, not even sure if the detective could assist him, or if he would. But he was the only person Chris could think would help him.

After a couple of rings on the phone, Looker's voice spoke on the other end of the line. "Detective Looker speaking." He greets.

"Looker. This is Chris Harper." Chris says.

"Ah, young Chris. How goes your gym challenge?"

"Pretty good. I won the badge in Eterna City."

"Congratulations. Your progress is pleasing to hear. Have you discovered anything further about Team Galactic?"

"I can't say that I have. Listen... can I discuss something with you?"

"Oh? Is there a separate crime that you would have me look into?"

It was surprising to Chris that Looker worded his question like that, as he did indeed have something he was hoping the detective would look into for him. "Not a crime. I honestly don't know if I can actually ask you to do this."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. You simply must tell me what it is you need from me."

"There's a girl. I met her all the way back when I was a toddler. We got separated when my parents passed away, and I haven't seen her since. Its something from my childhood I'm desperately wanting to put to rest."

"And you want to know if I can help you find her."

Looker was much smarter than he sometimes made himself out to be. "Yeah. She and I aren't from Sinnoh, we're from Kanto. And as much as I've been yearning to get on a boat to return to Kanto, I know I don't have anywhere near enough money to do so. Still, if she left Kanto herself... maybe for schooling?"

"And what exactly do you want from her? It's been so long."

Chris pauses, and he sighs. He can't help but take a brief second to remember the night he and Dawn took each other's virginity. "I... I don't know. I have no idea what to expect if I ever reunite with her. All I know is that I want to, no matter what my life looks like if I do."

Looker goes silent for a second, and then responds. "Okay Chris. I will do what I can to assist you, as you are assisting me in my investigations. I will search residential records from every town in the region, it will take some time. What was her name?"

"Danielle Vespucci. She's three months younger than I am, if I remember correctly."

"I won't need her exact birth date. Her first and last name should be enough."

"Okay. Thank you, Looker." The waiter then brings Chris's order to him. "Thank you." Chris says to the waiter, and then gets ready to say goodbye to Looker. "Alright detective, its time for me to eat dinner."

"Understood, Harper. I'll get your request in to a colleague, and let you know what he finds."

"Please do. I'll talk to you later, detective." Chris hangs up the phone, and begins to eat his dinner.

The next morning...

Chris wakes up as the sun shines through his motel window, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He sits up in the bed and stretches out his body, the pops in his body diluting the stiffness. He takes out the little notebook he had to keep track of his goals, and puts an entry in the Danielle section of the notebook. He grabs a pencil that was in the motel room, and writes down "Use the help Looker offers." Then he closes the notebook up, and gets his belongings together before heading over to check out of the motel. Once he was free of the motel room, he gets onto his Pan-Unovan Harley, and kick starts the engine.

After picking up a new pack of cigarettes, Chris rode out of Oreburgh to continue on to Route 207. It was getting to winter time, so Chris had bought himself a new black leather jacket to keep warm. Between the clothes, the sunglasses, and the Harley, Chris could be confused as a nomad for a biker's club. Yet the clothes that he bought were perfectly suited for someone who was more than likely on the hit list for a criminal organization, like Team Galactic. Despite the knowledge that they were livid with him, Chris was determined not to let that be a large burden on his journey.

His eyes forward, Chris rode inside the cave, preparing to test how his new bike handled off-road riding. The interior of Mt. Coronet was still so amazing to behold to Chris, even in his second time going through it. The southern part of the cave was a bit smaller than the northern part that he went through a couple of years ago. There were also different Pokémon in this part, as opposed to more to the north.

As Chris tested the bike in the rougher terrains inside the mountains, he spotted a familiar scarfed silhouette getting larger in his headlight. It was Lucas. Chris slowed his bike to a stop, as he observed Lucas writing down notes next to his grey Jeep. The beam of Chris's headlight gets Lucas's attention, who is only able to see that it's Chris when he shuts his Harley's engine off. A smile paints his face. "Hey Chris, it's good to see you!" Lucas says, as he rises to his feet.

"You too, Lucas." Chris says, as he steps off his bike. He looks over to Lucas's older Jeep, pointing at it. "How'd that happen?"

Lucas looks back over to the darkly shaded vehicle. "Professor Rowan got it for me. He asked me to pay him a certain amount back every month." Lucas looks over to the bike that he can just barely make out in the dimly-lit cave. "I imagine he may have done the same thing to you."

"Actually, no. It was a gift after I helped out the owner of the dealership in Eterna City. I've got to pay him back a certain amount, and he says that I can pay him as much as I'm able per month."

"Nice deal." Lucas then looks past Chris back to the Harley, and eyes up the incubator held tightly in between the handlebars. "Did that egg come with it, or did you just find it?"

Chris takes a glance back at the egg, and decides not to tell Lucas about Cynthia. "I found it. Curiosity got the better of me, so I'm waiting to see what's inside."

"I'd imagine. Hey..." Lucas gets Chris to look at him, as he activates a Poké Ball from his belt. "Wanna battle?"

Chris cracks a half smile, and activates one of his own Poké Balls. "How many do you have?"

"Three."

Chris tilts his head up. "Three-on-three then. Lets do it."

Chris and Lucas both throw their Poké Balls at the same time, their Pokémon emerging from the light. Lucas throws out his Drifloon, whilst Chris throws out a newly captured Gible. Having yet to have come up with a nickname for his new Pokémon, Chris gave his command to Gible. "Gible, use Metal Claw!" Gibles claw shined with a steely glint, and she charged forward to attack Drifloon.

Lucas's Drifloon floats upwards slowly a bit on its own. "Lucas, use Gust!" Drifloon's arms start to flail losely as a gust of wind blows right onto Gible's face, as it slows down. As for Drifloon itself, it manages to float away before avoiding Gible's attack. "Now, use Constrict!" Drifloon goes right back downwards, and used its arms to painfully squeeze Gible's body.

With Drifloon still squeezing on to Gible's body, Chris calls out to the inexperienced member of his team. "Gible, use Metal Claw, again!" Gible's claws shine with that steely glint again, and she lashes out at Drifloon. The hit makes her release her grasp on Gible, who lands on the floor. "Now, Dragon Rage!" Gible needs a second to regain her footing, and as she prepares to fire off a burst of draconic rage at Drifloon.

This time creates a window for Lucas and his Drifloon. "Drifloon, use Payback!" Drifloon starts to store power, and it prepares to take the hit. Surely enough, Gible's Dragon Rage comes flying right at it, and has to eat the hit. That hit is too much for Drifloon to take, but so is the released power from Drifloon's Payback too much for Gible to take. Chris knew that Gible had potential, but that she certainly needed some work. Regardless, Chris and Lucas were both calling their Pokémon back to their respective balls.

"On three?" Chris says, as he and Lucas both activate their second Poké Balls. Lucas simply nods, as they both count up to three. "One. Two. Three." Chris throws out his Staravia, while Lucas launches out a West Sea Shellos. The pink Sea Slug Pokémon looked up at the predatory black bird flying above it, and showed no fear.

"Shellos, use Water Pulse!" At Lucas's command, Shellos launches a pulsing blast of water at Chris's Staravia.

"Ikaros, block it with Whirlwind!" Chris's Staravia starts to furiously beat her wings at the attack, and dissipates it completely. "Now, use Quick Attack!" Ikaros then picks up immense speed, and hits Shellos hard.

Shellos doubles back, and Lucas keeps it going. "Shellos, use Yawn!" Shellos lets out a huge yawn, and Ikaros instantly starts to move slower from drowsiness.

Chris didn't know about this move at this point, and believes that his Staravia can overcome it with motion. "Ikaros, use Wing Attack!" Chris's Staravia comes in hot, and hits Shellos hard with her wings. She then flew on back to land in front of Chris, and then immediatley crumbled to the ground, sleeping.

Before Chris has a chance to process this, Lucas issues another command. "Shellos, Water Pulse!" Shellos launches another pulsing blast of water at the sleeping Ikaros, and the hit has her rolling violently on the ground.

"Come on Ikaros!" Chris yells out in an effort to awaken his Pokémon, but its in vain.

"Shellos, Hidden Power!" A pulse of yellow energy fires off from Shellos's body hits Ikaros hard, and the pain makes its eyes shoot open. Chris quickly realizes that Shellos's Hidden Power was Electric-type.

But thankfully for Chris, Ikaros was wide awake now. "Ikaros, Quick Attack!" Chris's Staravia rose back up to her feet, and took off right at Shellos. She slammed into Shellos hard, perhaps harder than before out of anger. The hit was far too much for Shellos to withstand.

Lucas stares at Shellos as it lies out cold, and then recalls it once he shakes off just how sudden the blow took it down. "Your team's good, Chris. Real good." Lucas activates his last Poké Ball, and throws it out. "But I saved my best for last!" He exclaims, as a Monferno emerges from the ball.

Lucas's Monferno looks up at Ikaros, who is clearly fighting through the pain to even stay in the air. Lucas goes in for an attack while Ikaros is still in pain. "Monferno, use Mach Punch!"

Chris knows that Ikaros won't be able to withstand an attack, but he believes that she can still do damage. "Wing Attack!" Ikaros flies at the speedy Monferno, and manages to just get a hit in on Ikaros, before going down to Monferno's Mach Punch. Ikaros hits the ground hard, and cannot continue. Chris sighs, and recalls his defeated Pokémon. Despite how this part ended, Chris couldn't help but crack a smile. He activates his ace's Poké Ball. "Hawke, your up!" He throws his Marshtomp's Poké Ball, and he emerges from the bright light. As Hawke looks to his opponent, he lets out a confused sound before looking back to Chris. "What's wrong, bud?"

Lucas also pauses to observe the situation. Then the thought hits him. "Hey Chris. Didn't Professor Rowan give you the Chimchar that Barry and Dawn left in the briefcase?"

Chris hears Lucas's question, and then realizes what Hawke's problem was. "That's not Caesar, buddy. That Monferno is Lucas's Pokémon."

"Marsh." Hawke says, and then refocuses on Lucas's Monferno.

"Alright. Lets continue!" Lucas says, as he looks back to Hawke. "Monferno, use Mach Punch!"

"Hawke, Bide!" Hawke curls her body up to start enduring the hits. Monferno hits Hawke hard, but it only works against Monferno.

Something about the way Hawke's body started to shine brightly threw Lucas off his focus. "Monferno, use Fury Swipes!" Over and over again, Monferno scratches at Hawke to try to take take him down. But it wasn't enough. Almost right after Monferno stops, the bright lights explode in Monferno's face, and it gets thrown onto its back hard.

While Lucas's Monferno gets back on its feet, it doesn't stay on its feet for long. While Hawke is in pain himself, he is more than capable to fire off one more attack. "Hawke, use Water Gun!" Hawke fires off a hellacious bullet of water at Monferno, and nails it hard. Monferno goes down hard, and Chris wins the battle. Chris cracks a half smile, and steps up to pat Hawke on the shoulder. "Great job." Hawke smiles at Chris, as they hear Lucas withdraw his Monferno.

"Damn Chris." Lucas says as he walks up to Chris. "I saw Dawn recently, and she said that your really good. Looks like she was right."

Chris tilts his head up. "Did you battle her recently, too?"

"Yeah. She won that one. Had a Gyarados with her, too." Chris chuckles to himself, happy to hear she took his advice. "Something funny about that?"

Chris shakes his head. "Nah, just thinking about how I'd battle her Gyarados."

Lucas nods. "Fair enough. Tell me something. Did you make good money by challenging the gyms?"

"Enough to keep me going. Although, I got more money when I defeat Gardenia, than when I defeat Roark. I'm suspecting that badge number eight will be a big time payout."

Lucas nods. "I'm thinking I might head back to Oreburgh City to start my own gym challenge."

Before Chris can say another word, a voice that he could recall hearing back in Eterna City starts to speak. "According to one theory, Mt. Coronet is where the Sinnoh region began." Chris and Lucas were hidden out of sight as they listened to the voice. Chris realized that the owner of the voice was the same man who had been musing to himself in front of the statue in Eterna City. The strange man continued. "In a newly created world... a world where only time flowed, and space expanded. There should have been no strife. But what became of the world? Because the human spirit is weak and incomplete, strife has spread. This world is being ruined by it... I find this state of affairs to be deplorable." This was the closest to emotional that this man had sounded since Chris had first heard his voice. And his emotion was somewhere between anger, and disgust.

After his ramblings were over, the man left the Mt. Coronet caves heading back towards Route 207. Chris and Lucas then walk back towards their vehicles, and look at each other. "What was that guy going on about?" Lucas asked Chris, as they popped out of cover.

Chris, who still has his eyes locked on the general location where the man was standing, shakes his head. "No idea. But... I've got a strange feeling that he has something to do with Team Galactic."

"Team Galactic?" Lucas expresses confusion, as he hadn't learned the things Chris had.

"Lucas, do you remember those two thugs that were threatening you and Professor Rowan, and I beat the hell out of them?" Lucas nods his head. "Well, they were low ranking members of some criminals that call themselves 'Team Galactic'. I don't know what exactly their goal is, but I do know that it's a grand one."

"Are you looking into them?" Chris is now the one who is silently nodding. "Chris, I've seen that you can handle yourself. But please, be careful all the same."

"I will." Chris then pulls his Harley's keys back out of his pockets. "So back to Oreburgh for you?"

Lucas nods. "Yeah, back to Oreburgh. Good luck at Hearthome gym." Chris tilts his head up, and smiles. Lucas gets in his Jeep and fires it up, as Chris kick starts his Harley. The two friendly rivals ride in separate directions as Chris continues on out of the caves. After a short trip through Route 208, and finding himself in a lower elevation, Chris rode his Harley straight to the Pokémon Center. He had captured more than six Pokémon up to this point, and had planned to train two of them for two or three days before challenging the Hearthome City gym.

After receiving his Rotom and Bronzor from Professor Rowan, he started to give Rowan his requested update. "Tell me something, my boy." Rowan starts. "Is it true that you've done work with an agent from the International Police?"

Chris nods on video call with the Professor. "It's true. The agent's code name is Looker, and he's helping me to see if Danielle moved to Sinnoh. For schooling, if nothing else."

"Can you disclose what you and this 'Looker' are investigating?"

"He didn't tell me I couldn't. Do you remember those two thugs that attacked you and Lucas in Jubilife City?"

"It is hard to forget two 'men' as ridiculous as those two."

"Well, it looks like they were bottom feeders of an organization called Team Galactic. I don't know exactly what their plan is, but calling it ambitious would be an understatement."

"If that is the case, are you sure you want to poke your nose in their business?"

Chris sighed. In truth, he'd give them a wide berth if they weren't so effectively getting on his nerves. "Every time I think I can just mind my own business Professor, their grunts choose to make their business mine. And like I said, Looker's helping me to find Danielle. While he didn't out and out say that he'd only help if I helped him, I'm inclined to believe its an unspoken term of our deal."

"Very well. I know how important it is to you to speak to her again. Still, be cautious with this 'Team Galactic'. You know what their willing to do to get what they desire."

"I do. Thanks for sending me my Pokémon Professor. I'll call you again when I get back to... Veilstone City." Chris doesn't give the Professor a chance to ask about the disdain in his voice as he speaks the name of the city. His painful memories that led up to him running away from that city were something he had told Rowan nothing about, and just thinking about them had him dreading the day it was time to return.