I-Route 10 is one of the most popular roads among truck drivers in eastern Kanto and it's not hard to see why given its nickname as the "Gringey City Gateway." Gringey City is home to a mega-sized power plant that powers much of the region and a vast array of factories and industrial businesses including two mighty steel mills, several gas refineries, and even the firm that produces Max Repels. Truckers across several regions love any assignment they can get that brings them here since with all the supplies going in to work in these factories and the manufactured goods coming out a run here almost certainly means a nice pay day both ways.
And it's on the road out of town that we find a pair of familiar faces as GS Truck #653 sets off headed west. In the cab of Truck #653 driver Ken Worth and his partner Fennekin are in a bit of a relaxed mode this afternoon. The pair had just hauled in a pair of new ladles for use moving molten metal inside the Skarmory Steel Company mill and now they had picked up a backhaul with some fresh rolls of steel that were now bound for the Glaciate appliance factory in Pewter City that would make them into refrigerators. As the big blue 750 Eeveeliner truck crossed a bridge out of town its reflection glistened in matching waters below. Clearly Gringey City efforts to start cleaning up its environment after an infamous incident with some Grimer and Muk a while back at the power plant was starting to pay off.
Truck #653 was in a flatbed configuration today with the steel coils positioned and tied down tightly before being covered up with black tarps for their protection. Ken took no chances in securing this load, with the amount of weight out back if one of those coils came loose a lot of damage was sure to ensue. The load was a last-minute request from the refrigerator factory which needed the steel later this evening to assure it could keep its assembly line rolling at top speed. Ken and Fennekin were confident they would make it; they'd succeeded in driving all the way across Johto and back then across Kanto just two weeks ago; with a quick ride on the magnet train they made the 28-hour run with several hours to space. And compared to that first day with the Master Balls every load they'd carried since had been a proverbial piece of cake.
Fennekin sat in the passenger seat, smiling as he looked out the window over the water. Ken reached over down to sip on an energy drink with the only sound in the cab being a song playing on the truck's radio.
"On the road, far from home, you'd don't have to feel alone," sang the female vocalist. "Brave and strong, together we will be. It's our destiny! We will be heroes; we can change the world if we try! I go where you go. Forever friends, you and I! We will be heroes!"
Ken clicked off the radio.
"That Sinnoh pop kind of gets repetitive after a while, doesn't it?" Ken said.
"Fen," Fennekin replied with a happy bark.
The drive was expected to be a smooth one today with a pretty straight shot down I-Route 10 and I-Route 9 to reach Cerulean City. If Ken made good time he could probably go south there, skip driving over I-Route 3's Pikachu Trail, and still make his deadline. So far, he and Fennekin had been on time for all their deliveries and he didn't plan to start being tardy now. Conditions were supposed to get rainy later on with a thunderstorm but right now things were only partially cloudy. There was a moment of levity as Ken pulled up to a stop light at the end of the bridge.
"You've been riding shotgun with me for a while now Fennekin," Ken said. "You're always watching me like a Hawlucha when I'm driving. What do you say we play a game and you signal me on the shifts when I come up through the gears off this light."
"Fenne?" Fennekin asked.
"We'll I'll still shift on time but listen to the truck and give me a bark when you think I should shift," Ken said. "Sound like fun?"
"Fen," Fennekin replied happily.
The light turned green.
"Here we go," said Ken as he accelerated.
Fennekin listened closely to Truck #653's diesel sound as Ken started picking up speed. The little fox listened carefully a lot of the time when his trainer drove and gave his first bark as the sound of a high rev hit his ears.
"Fenne!" Fennekin barked right as Ken shifted gears.
"Good call there," Ken said.
The truck continued to pick up speed. Fennekin listened closely but his bark came just after Ken's next shift.
"Little late on that one bud," Ken said. "Try again."
Fennekin listened close as Ken continued accelerating. He waited for the right moment as the sound of the engine continued revving up.
"Fenne!" he barked, this time right on target.
"Not bad," Ken said.
Fennekin smiled with a small bit of pride.
"If you ever evolve up to being a Delphox maybe we'll have to have you take a commercial driver's test one you can reach the pedals," Ken quipped. "We'd make more money if you could drive the rig during my down time."
Fennekin rolled his eyes, knowing Ken was joking about that one. Suddenly Ken's CB radio cackled to life.
"Breaker, breaker this is Nidorino 1, calling out to all rigs on I-Route 10," came another GS Transport driver's voice. "We've got a real crack'em up with an overturned NQA rig at marker 12 in the westbound lanes. The driver looks okay but the cargo is spilled all over the highway and he was hauling a load of cough syrup so it is a sticky mess out there. Traffic is backing up and that's going to be a long cleanup."
Ken reached up and grabbed his microphone.
"This is Vulpix 3, I hear ya," Ken said. "I'm headed west now at marker 5. You think I should take an alternate route?"
"I would," Nidorino 1 responded. "That's going to be long cleanup especially once that thunderstorm moves in this evening."
"Roger, Nidorino 1, I will do so," Ken replied. "Safe travels and thanks for the heads up."
Ken rehung his microphone.
"I'm beginning to think old "No Questions Asked" nickname refers to how NQA Trucking does its hiring," Ken said, recounting how that company seemed well funded but its rigs had a bad habit of getting in trouble.
"Fen," Fennekin replied in agreement.
"There's a truck stop near here if we go back," Ken said. "We can stop there and grab a quick dinner. If we go south, we can go through Lavender Town and slice through Saffron and Celadon at night once traffic is light. We'll lose a few hours but it'll work."
Ken flipped on his blinker and pulled off at the next exit, the sight of taillights from the traffic backup ahead already being visible in the distance. As he pulled off the highway Ken made the turn to get back on going in the other direction. It wasn't long until he came upon the large Furfrou truck stop favored by many Gringey City-bound drivers and pulled off the road.
Ken parked Truck #653 before he and Fennekin headed inside to take a meal break and plan a new route. The parking lot of trucks was a colorful affair with rigs present from several different companies. In addition to some other light blue and gold GS Transport trucks there were also some two-tone brown ones from their friendly rival Tauros Trucking, the Saffron City company painted its trucks to resemble its titular Pokémon and even equipped the front with a set of replica bull horns as a stylistic touch. Some of the most eye-catching trucks were the teal refrigerated rigs that hauled items for the Glaceon Independent Grocers chain of stores. Pretty much every little town that wasn't big enough for a Thrifty Megamart had a GIG store and its trucks all featured graphics with the pair of happy Glaceons, one normal and the other shiny colored, that were used in most of the brand's marketing.
One of the more unique trucks was a signature "Diamond White" colored big rig from the Sinnoh-based Pearl Shipping, its trucks being a rare sight in Kanto. The company infamously once ended up in a major trademark fight over the word "Shipping" that involved many companies across every region. The feuds had been serious business in their day but thankfully the "Shipping Wars" had faded in intensity and the number of companies across the Pokémon world with "Shipping" in their name again seemed too high to count. Ken was all too glad he missed that fight.
As Ken and Fennekin walked up to the truck stop they took note of an older truck pulling in, a diesel-powered 350 Golempuller cabover operating for Pidgeot Transport. The Cerulean City company's livery wasn't all that dissimilar to GS's look as its trucks had a light blue cab with a white, blue, and gold cargo area featuring a stylized blue Pidgeot flying past the company's name. Diesel trucks still had their place on road alongside the newer hydrogen-powered models but most still in use were newer models like the 450 Rapidashrunner. This truck was clearly showing its age with a smokey, oily appearance. It parked closer to the building with the driver, a burly man in red flannel, climbing out as Ken approached. The younger Ken in his blue uniform contrasted with the certainly more experienced driver. The driver glanced down at Fennekin and then toward Ken.
"That's an interesting rig you've got there," Ken said. "I didn't know Pidgeot still used 350s."
"Yeah," the driver replied. "We got a couple of them left. Try running anything older than this though you have revive the parts to keep them running from a fossil."
"What are you hauling with it?" Ken asked.
"I've been doing loads of dynamite for the Pewter quarries but tonight I'm westbound with a more innocent load," the driver said. "I'm still going to Pewter but I've a got a bunch of batteries for a cell phone manufacturer."
"I'm also going to Pewter with a load of steel," Ken replied. "You hear about the wreck on I-Route 10?"
"It's all over the CB," the driver replied. "I'm making a quick stop and then I'm going to roll out anyway. I got another way to Cerulean and it'll shave an hour off if I do it right."
"You're kidding," Ken said.
"Nope," the driver said. "If you follow me tonight and you won't lose any time at all. I'm just going to hit the dirt on the regular Route 10, with that storm tonight it'll be free of trainers so we'll be in the clear. The name's Ross Keller and you might know me by my handle as the Rubber Psyduck. Nothing stands in my way when I'm on the road."
"I'm Ken Worth and my handle is Vulpix 3," Ken replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you. You might know my partner Fennekin and I from a rather wild run on the Pikachu Trail about two weeks ago that the Internet had a field day with."
"I thought that yellow fox looked familiar," Ross said. "If you are as bold as that move was I think you'll do well on Route 10 tonight. There's nothing like a good charge through a storm to keep you hustling down the road."
The two truckers turned to enter the truck stop when the arrival of another two GS trucks caught their attention. The first was GS's big 650 tow truck Chansey 3 and it was towing in a damaged 750 Eeveeliner not unlike Ken's own truck. Ken's jaw was down.
"I'll catch up with you inside Ross," Ken said. "I want to make sure these guys are okay."
"10-4," Ross said.
Ken and Fennekin dashed over to the tow truck as it parked. Ken looked up at the Eeveeliner and took note that it was Truck #51. That truck belonged to Eugenie Euclid, GS's Bulbasaur 5 driver who drove out of Saffron City. He'd met her at the Celadon garage last week between loads. Ken breathed a side of relief as he saw Eugenie and the mechanics climbing out of the truck. She didn't look injured. Eugenie noticed Ken and gave him a wave.
"Are you alright?" Ken asked.
"I'm fine," Eugenie said. "I was making a supply run to the Pokémon Center out on Route 10 and got attacked by a rogue Pokémon. The truck is fixable, no worries."
Ken and Fennekin both looked up at Truck #51. The Eeveeliner's left front tire was shredded.
"A Pokémon did that?" Ken asked.
"Yeah," Eugenie replied. "Some crazed Absol darted out of the bushes in front of me. I hit the brakes and when I did it bit into the tire to pop it then shredded it. You have to watch it with Absols. They cause disasters wherever they go, I mean just look at that mess. It ran off before I could even deploy Venusaur or Butterfree to defend it."
"I'm running Route 10 tonight, crud," Ken said.
"Eh, you'll be fine," Eugenie said. "Absols rarely go after people and it won't be out in the storm."
"I thought Absols were a Hoenn region species?" Ken noted.
"They were first discovered in Hoenn but their range is further than that," Eugenie replied. "There's some living up in the rock tunnel near here that the trainers use. Sometimes they come down a bit but its rare to see them causing trouble on Route 10. Probably just a rogue. I wouldn't worry about it. Once these guys get a fresh tire over here from the Saffron garage I'll be back on the road."
Ken and Fennekin both gulped. They were both starting to think that tonight might be another rough one on the road.
Out on Route 10 the weather was starting to get much cloudier. The darkening skies had scarred off some Pokémon to seek shelter from the coming thunderstorm but a lone, young Absol remained. It was now surveying the center of the road and it didn't like what it saw as a small fissure ran across the full width of the road.
Route 10 was a dirt one and most areas were lined with grass but in this location the road wound up into some hills along a cliff side. Absols have a natural ability to sense pending disaster and this one was drawn to this section of the road. It had first seen the fissure three days ago and it was starting to widen thanks to the recent rainstorms the area had seen. The sight of a second smaller fissure only 50 feet to the west of the first had the Disaster Pokémon even more worried that it wouldn't hold through the storm tonight. The Absol had already stopped one truck from reaching the damaged section of road and it hoped it would wouldn't have to face any more vehicles before road gave way. Unfortunately fate had other ideas for that hypothesis.
I told you we might see some bonus chapters. Ken and Fennekin are back for another adventure.
Pidgeot Transport actually is canon in the anime. In the "Princess vs. Princess" episode during the first season Misty won a set of Pokémon dolls and shipped them home to Cerulean City in a Pidgeot Transport truck. If I'd have known that when I started writing this fic I might have made them Ken's employer but instead we'll use them here.
The Pearl Shipping truck and stuff is meant as a joke. I couldn't resist the humor and I don't take sides in the character shipping debates. Ship whoever you like...unless your talking about shipping packages in which case ship with GS Transport.
I like getting to use the scene with the other trucking companies. That was planned for the main fic but got bounced to this part.