In the world of truck driving there many challenges every driver is trained to face. Bad weather, fragile cargoes, thick traffic, and breakdowns are all stuff every driver worth their salt is ready to face. For driver Ken Worth though and his two Pokémon though this run had fast gone off the rails. Their quiet, empty run to get a load in Cerulean City had fast morphed into a gauntlet run to Pallet Town with a load of Master Balls and Capture Stylers aboard. With Team Rocket having already taken out one GS Transport truck in pursuit of the two small cases and their powerful contents the crew of Truck #2,013 all too aware they would almost certainly try again.
As the big rig stormed back toward Pewter City, Ken got a confused look from a trainer and her freshly-evolved Umbreon as the truck blitzed past the Mt. Moon Pokémon Center. The truck's radio cackled to life.
"Dispatch, this is Squirtle 1," Peter Blitmore said on the radio. "I've had an issue up on I-Route 3. Please send up a repair crew and the Pewter Police, I've had a breakdown and there's a pair of individuals here who would like a chance to rethink their lives with a stay at the 'Gray Bar Motel.' Over."
"How's that little Togepi you had riding aboard with you Squirtle 1," asked the dispatcher, certainly using a code in reference to Ken's cases.
"I took measures to assure the little egg wasn't poached," Peter replied.
Ken, Fennekin and Spearow all breathed a sigh of relief at that. Two Team Rocket field agents alone stood little chance against a former Indigo Plateau winner like Peter. Ken suspected the other GS driver would cook those two easily. It was too late to turn back now though. He maneuvered his truck off I-Route 3 and onto a ring road leading around the outskirts of Pewter City. Ken was running his truck just below the legal speed limit, he needed to get where he was going fast but if he floored it that would likely draw unwanted attention toward his truck.
The time was about 5:25 a.m. and the roads were still virtually empty. With any luck, and no further issues, they'd be in Pallet Town in about two hours. Fennekin had taken up his normal position in the passenger seat and surprisingly had something of a righteous smile on his muzzle, picking unnecessary fights like he had yesterday would only bring trouble but now he had an important cargo to protect. It was runs like this that underscored why GS drivers had to have Pokémon alongside them. Spearow had never ridden in the truck outside of its Poké Ball before and looked notably more nervous; it was a tough bird and it had seen human vehicles plenty of times before but being inside this "moving building" that was apparently its new trainer's home would take some adjustment.
"At the ready guys," Ken said. "I don't know what's ahead."
Night was fast ending as the fabled "Blue Hour" set in, almost giving the light blue GS Transport truck a deeper sapphire hue as the black of night slowly began to fade with the brightening of the horizon. As they approached the Viridian Forest Ken gave serious thought to getting off the main roads to throw off any potential pursuers if the need arose. Unfortunately, this was likely the worse place in Kanto to try something like that. Route 1 and Route 2 were known for being traversed by a lot of fresh Pokémon trainers just out of Pallet Town with their starters and the youngsters were known to make some pretty dumb mistakes right out of the gate. There had been cases in the past where new trainers set up their camp for night right in the middle of the road by mistake and for that reason those routes had much stricter speed limits than normal for any vehicle traffic. The high number of Pokémon in the forest could be another issue. The corresponding I-Routes, while obvious, were certainly still the better option.
Ken turned Truck #2,013 onto I-Route 2 and quickly accelerated back to speed as his truck entered the famous Viridian Forest. The roads were still almost empty as the truck traversed an overpass above the empty tracks of the Johto-to-Kanto Magnet Train. As the truck rounded a bend another vehicle did come into view, a red convertible with both the roof and the hood up as smoke poured from its engine bay. Ken batted an eyelash at this sight. Fennekin immediately began to bark as if trying to warn his partner something seemed fishy here.
"Kin, kin Fennekin ne kin," the little fox responded.
"Relax dude, Peter said don't stop for anything and I don't plan to," Ken replied.
What Ken couldn't see was a certain Team Rocket duo in the car readying to spring a trap. Robert and Ellee were ready to finish the job that they had started against Peter. The pair were in the process of setting a honey of a trap to get Ken to stop so they could jump his truck and take its cargo.
"They did change the truck like Stonewall and Jackson reported," Robert said. "Are you ready?"
"Born ready," Ellee said confidently, taking off her jacket.
"Show a little leg," Robert suggested.
"Oh, ha ha," Ellee responded unamused.
"This was your idea," Robert noted. "Not mine."
"Well your idea stunk," Ellee snarked. "A giant mechanical Popplio with a missile launcher? Sheesh. You've been spending too much time with those flunk outs who are always chasing that rando's Pikachu. Let's do this fast and cheap, this one is the oldest trick in the book but it works every time."
As Ken's truck approached Ellee emerged from the car wearing nothing beyond a white bikini and began gesturing with her hands trying to flag down the big rig. Robert and their Purrloin waited in the car, his hand on another Poké Ball ready to spring the trap once the truck stopped.
"Help! Help!" Ellee said, walking out into the middle of the road. "My car won't run!"
Ken could hardly believe what he was seeing from the cab, a scantily-clad woman on the side of the road desperate for assistance is something no driver expects to see although it's safe to say many of them have their hopes. And at this hour and in this situation, it was something he wasn't buying for a second. This was an obvious trap.
"Kin, kin," Fennekin barked.
"I concur," Ken replied.
Ken swung his truck wide enough to miss Ellee. He got two wheels off the pavement to get by her then hit the accelerator to pull away. Ellee seemed surprised this didn't work, having little time to do anything but take note of the #2,013 on the side of the truck and the rather smug Fennekin giving her a sarcastic wave goodbye in the passenger's window.
"Hey, get back here!" Ellee yelled. "I'm in danger and you have to stop to help! Come back!"
The truck disappeared off into the distance.
"And the Magikarp didn't take the bait," Robert said.
"Shut up and get me my jacket," Ellee said as she walked back to the car. "Great, we've got a wacko behind the wheel who can't appreciate true beauty."
Robert reached under the hood of the car and pulled out the canister that was making fake smoke. He threw it into the woods and slammed the hood of the car.
"This isn't over," Robert said. "The chase is on."
As Ellee put her jacket on she pulled out her cell phone and called for reinforcements.
"The truck is still rolling, call in the cops," Ellee said. "We're looking for GS Transport Truck #2,013. Repeat two-zero-one-three. Stop it at all costs."
"Roger," came a voice on the phone.
As Truck 2,013 blasted further into the Viridian Forest Ken and Fennekin both had the same steel-eyed look on their face peering out their big rig's windshield. Spearow waited in the back at the ready if things went south. Suddenly something caught Ken's eye in his truck's big outer mirror, the sight of flashing red and blue lights. A police car came roaring up behind the truck, its siren wasn't on but its all of its lights were. Ken wondered if perhaps someone had been called to escort their truck to Pallet Town with protection. At that moment the patrol car pulled out and drove up beside the truck.
Ken looked down to see one of the two officers in the car gesture first to the front of their vehicle then imply they wanted him to pull over. The police car had a Viridian City livery and bore markings for the "Commercial Vehicle Enforcement" division, an indicator that the officers aboard were the type that typically inspected trucks, buses, and taxis to assure the vehicles were safe to operate on Kanto's roads. Ken rolled down the window as it looked like the officer wanted to tell him something.
"Pull over for an inspection now," the male officer in the passenger seat yelled. "Your back bumper is off!"
That was true, a side effect of Ken and Fennekin's earlier stunt on the mountain pass, but something felt off about that request. Truck inspections and weight checks were standard operating procedure but they usually weren't carried out on isolated roads under the cover of darkness. They also were still a far enough north of Viridian City that an officer likely wouldn't out patrolling here without reason. Ken gave a "one minute" gesture out the window toward the police car before rolling up the window and reached for his radio, flipping it over to a police frequency. There were no playful handles in use when calling the police.
"Viridian City Emergency Dispatch, this is GS Transport Truck #2,013 and I have what appears to be one of your commercial vehicle officers trying to pull me over on I-Route 2," Ken said. "I'm willing to comply but will you please tell them I'd like to do this in town at the police station instead of on the side of the road. There's a sensitive cargo aboard and I don't want to stop in an isolated area."
The radio was silent for a moment before the emergency services responded.
"Truck Two-Zero-One-Three, please do not play around on police frequencies," the dispatcher responded. "We have no officers patrolling in the Viridian Forest at this time. Commercial Vehicle Enforcement does not patrol at night."
Ken's jaw almost dropped before he composed himself. Fennekin started a low growl ready to pounce and Spearow began to glow as it began a focus energy move.
"Viridian dispatch, I would like to request assistance then," Ken said. "I've got some jokers pretending they are cops out here and they've got a pretty convincing looking car. You're going want to nail these two before they do something stupid. I'm at marker 42 and headed south."
"Truck Two-Zero-One-Three confirm," the dispatcher said. "ETA for an officer will be about ten minutes. Stay on I-Route 2."
"10-4 dispatch," Ken said. "Thank you."
The trouble would almost certainly begin before that 10 minutes was up and Ken started planning, with the back bumper off he already had an idea. He rehung his radio and gave the now-confirmed fake police car next to him a gesture indicting he would pull over. He began to slow down as the police car ducked in behind him. Behind the wheel of the car the two male Team Rocket grunts disguised as cops were ready to pounce as one of them called up the others on a cell phone.
"This is George and my partner Pickett, we've got that truck in sight and we're pulling him over," George said. "We'll have the Master Balls in a moment. Get the 'war wagon' and the Beedrill swarm moving just in case."
Ken slowly maneuvered Truck #2,013 onto the gravel shoulder of the road. The look on his face told Fennekin and Spearow immediately that their trainer had a plan. Ken popped the clutch to change gears and started a countdown just as his truck had almost stopped with the fake police car now joining it on the shoulder. The police car was just behind the truck.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1," Ken said. "Let's roll!"
Ken slammed the truck's accelerator to the floor so fast the back wheels spun for a second, kicking up some gravel that showered down on the front of the police car as the truck blasted forward. Ken gave horn two loud blasts as he sped off and made a gesture out the window toward the car. The gravel trap held up the police car for a second but its lights kept flashing as it now gave chase. Robert and Ellee's red convertible also sped down the road to join into the pursuit.
"They'll have to do better than that to stop us," Ken said proudly. "We're hauling now."
Ken started accelerating the truck up to the speed limit and beyond it. With Team Rocket on to them now there was no point in holding back. Suddenly he had to jam the brakes as a small green van roared off a side road and took a position right in front of the truck. Ken geared up and tried to pass the smaller van only for it to also speed up, the smaller vehicle had the speed to stay in front of the truck no matter what Ken did. The truck driver gave a nervous gulp as he realized he getting boxed in and started to look for other options. Four bright yellow-and-black motorcycles also came roaring out of the woods, taking up a position behind the police car and the convertible. This was turning into a 7-on-1 handicap match and even with size on the truck's side Ken did not like those odds.
Fennekin hopped up on the dashboard of the truck trying to get a look down into the leading van when he noticed a bright flash of white light come through its back windows, as if someone had popped open a Poké Ball.
"Fennekin, fen fen!" Fennekin said to warn Ken.
The truck driver now followed his fox's lead in looking down as a second white flash emerged from the van. Someone was in the back of that van readying an attack and if Pokémon were involved there was no telling what would happen next. Ken looked at Fennekin for a moment.
"So, ah, odd question," Ken said. "Did you and your previous trainer ever try battling at high speed aboard a moving truck before?"
"Kin," Fennekin replied.
"Yeah, I figured that was the case," Ken said. "Alright, it'll be the first time for all of us then. Peachy."