Rustboro was huge. No, that was an understatement. The city was massive. It also was smaller than some of the other cities in the region, according to Amy. Buildings of similar design stood proudly side by side, gigantic glass and steel giants rising hundreds of feet into the sky. Riven wandered into the city looking around at all the signs and all the buildings. Hundreds of people walked the streets, all heading in different directions and destinations. Riven was caught in the crowd of people, unsure of where to go or what to do.

Lost and clueless, he and his pokemon stood on a street corner, seeing streets in every direction. He had no idea where the pokemon center was, or where Devon was. He figured the best course of action was to ask for directions. There was a café open near the street corner where he stood. There were some people inside. They might have some information for me.

"Hello. Do you know where the pokemon center is?" Riven asked a couple sitting near the entrance.

The couple was enjoying some kind of brown liquid with a strange odor. The woman was young and had brown hair, with blue eyes. The man across from her had short black hair that was combed backwards, he looked bothered by Riven's presence. The trainer ignored his condescending look and just waited for a response.

"Oh. You're a trainer right?" The woman asked with a slight smile. The young man had three pokeballs on his belt. Must be.

"Yes," Riven confirmed.

"Well, which center are you looking for?"

"You mean there are more than one?" Riven was confused. More than one pokemon center? That means possibly two weeks of free rent. Might be useful. He just needed to know where the nearest one was. "Do you know where the nearest one is and how to get there?"

This time the man spoke. "Kids these days… The nearest one is in Rustboro Square. To get there you cross the street to the north-" He stopped. "Do you have money on you?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Cross the street to the north, turn right on Sharp Street and wait for the 102 bus. One of the stops is right in front of the square. It will announce it over the intercom so you can't miss it. Now can you go?" The girl across from him shot him a look.

"Thank you. Sorry for disturbing-" He pointed a finger, "-whatever this is." Riven turned and left, not bothered in the slightest by the man's snippy attitude. He was used to bigger assholes than him. Higher ranked personnel in the military were colossal assholes, they loved to push people around without actually doing any of the dirty work. He and Nemos would constantly get stuck with guard patrol for it. Afternoon shift too. Needless to say, the heat was unbearable at times.

Heeding the snippy's advice, Riven did as he was instructed, stopping at a bus stop that had a sign with blue 102 numbers on it. He casually leaned on the metal sign, waiting for the bus to come. He had money with him so he could just pay the fare instead of being cheap and climbing on.

His pokemon waited beside him. Bib was holding his head, deep in concentration. It was strange for Bib not to be doing something mischievous or unruly, Haona was beginning to wonder what he was up to. She waved a paw in his face, trying to see how deep he was. Judging by the non-reaction, he was dug in pretty good. Aine shifted her head to the side, looking lopsided.

"Hey, Bib. What're you doing?" No response.

"Bib." Nothing.

"BIB." Again, nothing.

Tired of speaking to him, she smacked him with her paw. He snapped out of it, holding the right side of his green hair. "WHAT?"

"What are you doing?"

Bib sighed, looking defeated. "Truth is, I've been trying to tap into our trainer's mind."

Haona and Aine were surprised, mostly by the fact that Bib wasn't up to anything perverse. You would think he'd be using his psychic abilities to see under a girl's skirt, or at least undo her top, then blame their trainer. Aine pried first. "Why would you want to do... Oh, I get it. You want something from him, huh."

Bib frowned. For a naïve little pokemon, Aine the Torchic was pretty insightful. She seemed to feign ignorance at times, secretly analyzing situations. It seemed that Riven was rubbing off on her. Actually, he was rubbing off on everyone. They were all nearly as paranoid as him, and thought twice before doing anything. Mostly. Haona was still a bit impulsive though.

"I guess you could say that."

"What do you want from him?" Aine asked, curious little black eyes staring up at him. Gah, she was adorable. Like a little sister. Bib's thoughts turned to his sister. His mood plummeted. She was the reason why he was trying so desperately to connect with Riven's mind. He needed to tell him something, the guy was clueless to nearly everything and gawked at every new car or piece of technology he saw. And with being unable to speak to him telepathically, he'd never guess.

The Kirlia gave a weak smile."Something small and green, it's very special. I need it for something." He was talking about the dawn stone. He wanted to evolve, and not into a Gardevoir, looking like a female and having man parts was embarrassing. Considering Riven's general attitude and cluelessness about everything, that possibility would happen if nobody smacked some sense into the guy. But first he would need a dawn stone. The best means of attaining one would be through his trainer as well, which naturally also meant someone had to tell the poor idiot about it.

Haona solved the puzzle and cut through his vague descriptions with a simple statement. "You want a dawn stone."

"Yeah," Bib replied, staring at his elbows. He imagined green extending blades protruding from them. He wanted to be a Gallade so much it hurt.

"If that's the case, then why haven't you been able to establish a tele whatever-it-is with dummy over there?" Haona wondered, slightly perplexed at Bib's inability to establish a psychic link. Unless Bib was just garbage at it.

"I don't know and it's frustrating me." White hands opened and closed. "It's like my psychic bounces off of him. He's not consciously rejecting me. Neither is his subconscious. His body rejects me, every single part of him rejects me."

"How is this telepathy thing supposed to work?"

"Argh. My mother said it was like finding a specific type of…you know what? Let me put it simpler. It's like you're standing in a field full of falling strings. All of them are colored differently and it's up to you to find a single string of a specific color in the midst of them."

"Sounds pretty hard."

"It's not when you have a bond with someone. It guides you to the string, like an attraction. Usually Kirlias only need a couple days to establish a telepathic link. Gardevoirs and Gallades can do it instantly. Let's not even get started with Alakazams. Those guys are nuts."

"Ok, so what does Riven feel like?"

"He's invisible to me. Clouded, obscured, shaded, you name it. I know we touched on this before Haona but he feels a lot like you. I can't talk to you telepathically either for the same reason. Your strings just aren't there."

"But you know that's impossible. Humans don't have types."

"No. Any of the ones we've seen or heard about don't. But what if some did?" Bib was looking at the floor, deep in thought.

"That would be dangerous." Haona realized that, imagining humans spitting fire and fazing through walls like a ghost. Aine just looked confused, and choose to preen herself instead.

Bib was about to respond when Riven told them to shut up and get in the bus. The blue bus arrived and the trainer and his pokemon climbed aboard. Bib gave a sidelong glance to Haona and mouthed: We'll talk about this later. The Absol gave a tight nod and was sucked back into her pokeball.

A red beam hit the Kirlia on the forehead, pulling him back into his pokeball. He managed one last glance at his trainer. Just what are you?

Riven held his right eye, staring out of the bus window. The vehicle was mostly empty and the sun was setting, creating a perfect atmosphere for self reflection. He thought about what happened to him that day at the contest hall. The power and the overwhelming sense of bloodlust. The rapid healing. That voice. It was the same as the dream he kept having. The same dream where Riven saw his parents and Nemos turn into ash.

He could feel it at times, gnawing at him, pushing dark thoughts into his mind. The terrifying part about the voice was that he knew what it was. Or at least he thought he knew what it was. It was his own hate, the same hate he kept inside for all those years in the military. He thought it'd go away now that all of it was in the past, but it just kept coming back, like a weed.

Draw your power from me, or I shall consume you. Those were its words. Words that still haunted his mind. What power would he draw from it? Thinking about it, he stopped. Hearing voices in his head could not be good for him.

Oh god, I may be going insane.

Or he wasn't, and something was messing with his head. Maybe his parents knew about it, but they were dead, they couldn't help him if they wanted to. Not only that but he was in a completely different time period with no way of knowing how far ahead he'd been thrown. How far in the future am I? Years? Decades? Centuries? Millennia…

Riven rubbed his eyes, eyelids heavy with fatigue. He was so tired. He just wanted to go sleep. His pokemon had fought hard against those Ariados too. They needed energy and rest as much as he did. Mind heavy with thoughts and troubling thoughts, he rested his head against the window, his body rocking with the motion of the bus.

The pokemon center was similar to the others. Trainers everywhere and another Nurse Joy with a warm smile. Riven rented a room after Nurse Joy took care of his pokemon, at which point he was nodding off while standing up. Stumbling onto the bed after heading into his room, the exhausted trainer was out like a light.

Rays of light filtered in from outside Riven's window. They woke him and he stretched on his bed, yawning loudly and generally feeling much better than yesterday. One thing was bothering him though. He was on his side and felt a prickly feeling on his chin. He rubbed his face with his hand and noticed that facial hair was growing again. It was annoying and constantly got in the way. He liked sleeping face down in beds, something he couldn't do comfortably if any sort of facial hair was growing out. Heading for the bathroom to go slice it off, the young man let all his pokemon out.

He made sure to put food in their bowls first before doing that though. White Queen was cranky when she didn't receive her food. Aine was…..well, Aine. Mischief could feed himself for the most part. What was the use of serving him if he used psychic to make the food come to him? Riven closed the door behind him. His eyes still had a sleepy feel to them, and when he rubbed them again, he got a good look at his reflection.

Apart from the facial hair, one thing really stood out. He now had a tuft of hair a pure white color over his right eye. It was fairly small but alarming nonetheless. Entire strands of hair in that region were now pale white, like an old man's. "…Huh?" He put some fingers in between his hair, looking at his scalp. The strands of hair were white all the way to the root. Sudden discoloring of hair? What kind of….?

Oh.

"Must have something to do with this... whatever this is." Ever since all that business from a week ago, his body started to feel different. He grimaced while looking at the spot of hair. Hopefully, it would stay that small-if just to keep all the kids from making fun of him for being an old fart. He got plenty of remarks from them already, being a bit older than the standard trainer, and it was getting annoying.

Exiting the bathroom some time later, his pokemon were waiting in the room. His Absol was on the bed, talking to Aine and Mischief about something. It looked serious, Mischief was actually straight faced. That was rare. Riven thought the Kirlia was incapable of having anything other than a smirk on its face.

Clearing his throat, the trainer called out to them. "Listen up." His pokemon stopped their discussion and turned to look at him. "Today is the day you prove your skills against a strong and worthy opponent. Or so I have heard." All three pokemon shot up. "Today, we are going to challenge the Rustboro Gym and you will beat the gym leader into the ground like men. I hope," Riven said cynically. His pokemon were undeterred, however. Aine chirped in excitement, White Queen grinned, and Mischief folded his hands with a smirk on his lips. "But first I need to eat something. All of you already ate." There is also the fact that I have no clue where this gym is. They all groaned in collective disappointment.

The dining area of the Rustboro gym was bigger than the one in Petalburg. It had more seats and tables to sit at. It was in a bigger city, so it only made sense to accommodate for a larger volume of trainers. Riven received a meal from the counter and sat down at one of the empty tables by the window. He had some fish and rice to eat. He presumed the fish was Magikarp, since that was the most commonly eaten fish in his time. There was a lot around so it was safe to assume…

He was about to take a bite out of it when someone slammed a hand on the table, startling him. The hell is this? The annoyed trainer glanced upwards. "Hello…?"

Female. Angry. Brown hair. Late teens. Examination conclusion: Irritating and Idealistic. Wonderful!

He stared at her with one brown eye. "What do you want?"

"Do you know what you're eating?

"Fish and rice."

"Yeah, fish."

"Uh, okay?"

"You know what fish is made of?"

"I would never guess, but meat?"

"Yeah, it's meat. And you know where meat comes from?"

"The sky?" Riven answered sarcastically.

"NO, NOT THE SKY. FROM POKEMON! HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELF A POKEMON TRAINER AND STILL EAT POKEMON?"

The black haired trainer snorted loudly. Oh, this is rich. He stabbed the fish fillet with his fork, causing the girl to hold her breath. "Look."

She did.

He stuck the fillet in his mouth and starting chewing slowly and deliberately, giving her the most indifferent stare he could manage. Every passing second he could see the rage build within.

The girl started throwing a hissy fit, screaming and cursing him for doing it. The male trainer simply tuned her out and continued his meal. Soon the entire dining area was focused on his table. Riven finished his meal, ignoring the stares, snickers, and yelling. She must not leave the city very often. You could theoretically survive on berries and plants but filling they were not. Meat was important and tasted good, what was the problem?

Fed up with her tirade, he stood up suddenly. She went quiet. He got close to her, putting his mouth next to her ear. The whole area went silent, staring at him. Riven smiled. "Have a nice day." The trainer broke away and placed his tray on the counter. "By the way, the Magikarp tastes wonderful."

He walked out of the dining area.

The trainer began chuckling to himself. He thought of borrowing a bit of White Queen's attitude for that. The result? Totally worth it. The girl looked like someone had slapped her with a wooden plank. It was gratifying, putting someone in their place like that. No wonder it was White Queen's favorite thing to do. Still feeling smug, he went over to Nurse Joy, feeling a bit more confident about facing Roxanne.

"Nurse Joy, do you know where the gym is?"

"Did you really miss it?" She giggled.

"Huh?"

"It's in the square. Right across from the pokemon center!"

Wait. That building looks nothing like a gym. It appeared to be a building with a door encased by boulders and rock. His jaw dropped. One of these days it would fall off completely.

"Talk to Roxanne. She's in the Rustboro Trainer's school next to it. Classes end at three so you can either visit the school or wait until class ends and try and catch up with her. Good luck with your match!" Nurse Joy smiled, partly friendly and partly amused. The young man looked so surprised that it made Joy laugh. She hadn't seen something that funny in weeks.

"School?" It looked like an old building that could house questionable individuals inside. It looked very old and was made of brick. It seemed out of place. Then again, he was the one who ended up somewhere he definitely should not be.

Well, might as well catch her while she is still teaching. Besides, I want to see how the school looks like. His schooling had been how to fight. Some people said that the royals of the Cerul family learned how to hold a sword before they learned how to walk. Riven wasn't entirely sure if that was true or not. His combat training had started at four, with a wooden sword and teacher that more or less worked on his stance and tried to keep his attention from wandering off. It continued after he joined the military and now…..well now he was a pokemon trainer. Training never stops.

He stood at the gates of the school and was questioned by a short woman with graying hair. She basically asked him what he wanted. Riven told her he wanted to speak to Roxanne and perhaps learn a bit more about the school. She mouthed a simple "Oh" and let him in, telling him to go get a visitor's pass from the main office.

Seriously, they really should think twice about letting a random person through with such a vague explanation. I could have been a deranged psychopath and still be let inside. A healthy dose of paranoia never hurt anyone.

The curious trainer walked through the halls, peering into rooms full of kids. They saw his face and turned, eyes fixated on his Absol. He turned right back around and bolted before they swarmed the poor thing. I forgot about children. Why do they swarm too?! And they also cried, recalling an unfortunate bus ride he had taken in Petalburg while he was penniless. The kid just refused to shut his mouth. How could people think they were cute? He would rather hug an Ariados.

Actually no, not really.

There were some stairs leading upwards. Most of the rooms on the second floor looked similar to the ones on the ground level but there were different subjects being taught in each one. Riven was puzzled by some of the subjects, which made no sense to him.

He spent one hour in a biology class in the pokemon doctor's class for intermediates. Whatever that was. Some students noticed him standing at the back of the class but then quickly went back to their studies. The instructor was talking about how organisms were composed of billions of small 'cells' and inside of them where centers with 'genetic' information that defined how we looked and even how tall we would be. Truthfully, most of the information went way over his head. It was intriguing, but you can only enjoy something so far if you have no idea what it is they are talking about. He had spent an entire hour in there and left just as clueless as he had entered.

A bell rang overhead and a flurry of teenagers and small children flooded the hallways, nearly trampling the poor trainer and his pokemon. He pushed up against a locker, mortified. White Queen must have felt the same way because she hid behind him. Being majestic and beautiful certainly was detrimental to her health in this situation. Death by cheek pinching? Not a good way to go for a proud creature such as herself.

Six minutes later, the hallways emptied and kids were back in class, replaced by entirely new ones. Same instructors though, which struck Riven as odd. In his time, the instructors switched. Not the kids.

Eh, future. People are strange, he thought as he shrugged his shoulders. Walking in to a class named Battle Basics 1-A, he saw a young woman with brown hair in two buns and…pigtails? Now that he looked at her hair, the trainer noticed that most of the people from the future had insanely strange hair. What was the deal with that? Even May's hair looked like an upside down V. What was wrong with normal hair that went straight down or was just spiky? His hair was perfectly fine, it was medium length that came down, no strange quirks to it. Nice and simple. He turned his gaze towards the right of the woman with bun tails.

There was also a man projected on the screen. He looked like Birch, with the white coat, but was much older. He had grey hair and noticeable wrinkles. It seemed the professor was being the instructor this time. But how was he there?

When the kids caught sight of his Absol, they all went "ooooooooooooooo" in perfect unison. Freaky. No. No. NO. Riven nearly dashed out of the room. But before he could do that the woman with bun tails called out to him, asking him to wait. Damn. Not wanting to be rude, he slowly turned back to the classroom. White Queen looked visibly horrified. He needed to find the gym leader.

"Is that an Absol?"

Shit. White Queen is on her own this time. "Uh… yes." He shifted nervously, looking at all the childrens' beady little eyes. God, they were scary. Curiosity prevailed as they swarmed around White Queen, touching her fur and stroking her horn. She froze in place, looking at him with eyes that screamed: help me. He backed away from the tiny mob, going around and over to the front of the classroom.

Bun tails saw the Absol's shocked expression and asked, "Why so stiff?" Trained pokemon loved being touched, guess she was an exception.

It took Riven a few moments to answer, as he was currently being death glared by his pokemon. Oh, he was getting tackled soon. "Uh…ummm…kids…scary? Agh?"

Bun tails started laughing, putting a hand up, covering her mouth. Her laughter drew the kids' attention, who momentarily stopped assaulting the poor Absol. "Kids, sit down in your seats. The trainer's Absol is overwhelmed. She doesn't like it. Remember, not all pokemon enjoy being touched. They're just like people. Some of us prefer contact, while others like their own space."

"Yes, that's true! And it's very important when it comes to wild pokemon!" The professor on the wall talked. IT TALKED. Riven jumped back, surprised that the image knew what was going on. Like it was alive.

"It talks!" He stammered, looking bewildered. He thoroughly believed it was black magic at this point. The future was downright bizarre.

The woman with the strange hair stared at him.

"What?"

"You've never seen a live call over the web?"

"No."

"Have you lived under a Geodude your whole life?" She teased while giggling a bit. How could a young teenager not know about the internet? That was all they were obsessed with these days.

"WHY DOES EVERYONE SAY THAT?" The kids let out a collective laugh at Riven's reply. Creepy.

"Well, Professor Oak over there is standing in front of a monitor and projecting his image over the web so we can see and hear him. At this moment he is currently doing what you see on the board." She explained, holding one finger in the air.

"Oh. So like a TV but in real time?"

"Yes. Exactly like that."

The trainer nodded his head slowly. Roxanne examined the young man. He was in his late teens, had black medium length hair with a spot of white that nearly covered his eyes, and was apparently a major technophobe. He wore general trainer attire with some runic markings and he carried a large case over his shoulder. His right eye was also strangely covered up by a black cloth. He looked like a reasonably strong trainer by the looks of it. Strong for the area at least. Absols were somewhat a rarity at this point in the gym circuit.

Although it was possible that he could be a Coordinator, judging by his Absol's magnificent appearance. Her fur was pure white, groomed to perfection. She also had a beautifully curved horn, and soft female features. Her fur bang on the left side of her head was fairly long, curly, and nearly covered her left eye. She was beautiful! The dark types were hardly seen, and Roxanne hadn't had the pleasure of seeing many of them this close.

One of the little boys in the classroom blurted out, "He's so cool! And his pokemon is soooo pretty!" They were talking about the black haired trainer, who looked very calm at the current moment, having recovered from his surprised outburst. He did look cool leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. But the kids said that about every other trainer too. They couldn't help it, that was their dream after all. Seeing the older trainers gave them some sort of inspiration to keep on going. Looking back at the older boy, she noticed he was eyeing the children very carefully. She figured the guy was probably here for a gym battle. That's what most of the visitors to the school were here for at least.

"I'm Roxanne. So, what are you here for Mr…?"

"Gray. I am here for a gym battle. But it can wait until you finish the class. I do not wish to bother you and your…students." He politely excused himself, moving to the back of the class with a stricken White Queen.

Polite young man. If only trainers were more like him. Most of them stormed into her class, demanding a battle. It was frustrating enough being interrupted, it was even more frustrating telling them to leave.

Riven waited for the class to end, listening to the woman explain type coverage to the children while this Professor Oak chimed in from time to time. He paid attention too, having nothing else to do. This would have been very useful, had he not spent an entire ten days in Oldale talking to Charles.

The lesson ended and the final bell rang, signaling the children to go home. They rushed out in a hurried frenzy. Riven carefully avoided their stampede and moved out of the way. Roxanne smiled. So did Oak. Then he inquired about his Absol.

"That is a beautiful Absol you have there, Gray. Do you groom her by any chance?"

"As if. She is way too stubborn for that. She grooms herself furiously every day. That is pretty much all she does outside of battling, eating, and tormenting me." Riven remarked, earning a paw smack from White Queen. "Like so."

"Ah, stubborn and strong-willed! Like my wife, heheheh!" Oak joked. Riven blinked.

"Professor!" Roxanne exclaimed. His joke might possibly offend the trainer. Or his pokemon. She already didn't look happy, having had a bunch of kids treat her like an oversized Skitty.

Riven watched his Absol frown at the professor's comment and grinned. "Stubborn? Oh, yes. I think that would be accurate. She acts like a human female so much it scares me. Right down to the prissy attitude." A sharp claw pressed into the side of his shin. "See?"

Both Roxanne and Oak laughed, seeing the friendly, albeit deprecating, interaction between pokemon and trainer. Older trainers tended to rib their partners more than the younger ones, after all. Oak then simmered down and asked another question, mostly out of curiosity. "Is she young? She seems to be a little on the small side for her species."

"I guess so. I have only had her and the rest of my pokemon for about three or four weeks. She might be young still. She has grown a bit but not much."

"Ah, that would explain her size." Oak pursed his lips. "Well, I must go attend to some pokemon myself, they wouldn't be pleased if they weren't fed correctly. See you again tomorrow, Roxanne! Tell the children to study up their typings!" The projector image went black. Roxanne turned it off and then turned back to Riven.

"Anyway! You are here to challenge?"

"Yeah. I hoped to avoid the children but... uh... I got impatient."

The woman smiled gently, understanding.

"Don't worry, most trainers usually are. Let's head on over to the gym but before that, one last thing. Do you mind if we record our match? I like to show the students how battles look like and how creative trainers can get."

Riven smiled slightly, "Not at all. Go right ahead."

"Splendid!" She smiled. "You're lucky. You're the first challenger I have this week! I only face trainers once a week due to my schedule." Teaching eight hours every day for five days was exhausting. If she had to fight challengers every single day too, she'd lose her mind.

"I guess I was fortunate. Most of the time, luck hates me. I was expecting a freak accident to happen and accidentally crush the gym or find you unavailable for some inexplicable reason." Riven joked, acknowledging his absolutely horrid misfortune streak. He silently tallied up his misfortunes with his fingers. Near death by Arcanine, launched into the future, near death by Scyther, getting robbed, getting caught in an assassination attempt, and finally an Ariados attack. He scoffed. And all under one month too. Living it up.

"You have a morbid sense of humor , Mr. Gray." Roxanne said, one brow raised in concern.

"Heh. So I have been told."

The interior of the gym was…..rocky. Well, that was to be expected. Roxanne was a rock type gym leader. The field was just full of rocks with a rock floor and everything was rock. Even the walls of the gym were colored like rocks. Students were lined up on the higher stands, looking down into the arena. No one sat on the ones near the field. With good reason. Flying debris could cause serious wounds, and pokemon battles had a tendency to cause destruction. Riven remembered a stray hyper beam blasting a tree to pieces, sending a sharp piece of bark through a soldier's neck. He died within the hour. Tragic stuff.

Some of the older students were holding cameras, filming the leader and her challenger. Both battlers positioned themselves at opposite ends of the field. A student referee stood in the middle of the ring, holding a yellow and green flag. "This will be a three on three battle between Roxanne, the Rustboro City Rock Gym Leader, and her Challenger Gray. The rules are as follows. The winner of the match will be decided by knockout. Whoever's pokemon are all knocked out first is the challenger is allowed as many substitutions as possible, the gym leader must battle with his or her chosen pokemon until fainted or rendered unable to battle."

He raised both flags. "Are both trainers ready?"

Roxanne had her arms crossed, inwardly nervous. Her challenger had an absol. It could know anything. His other two pokemon worried her as well. She had no idea what they were. He might very well come out with a mudkip or a grass type, which could cause serious complications for her rock types. She tightened her nerves and answered firmly, "Yes."

Her challenger, Gray, looked completely calm. Then again, it was hard to tell what he was feeling, based on that blank expression he had.

He stood in a neutral stance, thinking of possibilities and strategies he could use with his pokemon. Strengths, weaknesses, mobility, typing, coverage, and even physical strength. The key was to be calm and composed, a nervous man made mistakes he would never make normally. Being nervous sabotaged the mind and interrupted clear thought. He needed to remain calm.

Removing the cloth from his face, it fell away, revealing his right eye. His field of view was a little skewed with it on.

"Ready."

The referee brought both flags down.

"Trainers are ready! Begin!"

Both battlers smirked and pokeballs flew high into the air.

A man in Slateport was sitting in a lab, humming to a tune on Goldenrod 7.5 FM.

This was his final job of the day, he had only one more blood test tube to analyze. Giddy that he would be able to watch the game later in the afternoon, he danced around the lab a bit.

He figured the last one could wait. Dancing around for fifteen minutes, someone knocked on the door. Crap.

A muffled voice came in from the other side. "You done in there, Izak?"

He stopped dancing. "Yeah! Just need one more test!"

"Ok. I'm going to go now so lock up, alright?"

"Yeah, sure! Have a nice night!" The blood analyst replied.

He returned to his station, resuming his work. Better finish with this one or I'm gonna be late.

He picked up the test tube, which had no name on it. Weird. He searched for the origin of the blood tube. Not listed. Damn, did those careless filers not write anything down? For fuck sake….. Whatever, I'll let the registry guys trace this back. Probably some poor fat bastard with a heart condition. That's all there ever is anyway.

He put the tube under the analyzer and peered into a microscope. Checked it. Double checked. Triple checked. Quadruple checked. Then slapped himself. And checked again. No, he wasn't going crazy. What in the hell was this? What did they take this out of?! Who did they take this out of?!

Fumbling for several files, he read them frantically, comparing the studies and models to what he was currently seeing on his screen. Disbelief dawned on his face and he nearly fell out of his chair.

He took the sample and closed it with clammy hands. The man locked the lab and drove off to his home, descending into his lab in the basement , the game could go to hell at this point.

This…..this was something much more important.

He held up the tube.

"What a beauty."

Revised: 5/17/2021