Red didn't like that the boy next to him seemed to be omniscient, how he just happened to sneak up on Red right after he'd gotten his badge. It was easy to assume that there was another pokémon Lane hid away that could sense where things were—either a flying-type or psychic-type. Who knew? Considering the boy didn't have a single Kanto native, it was possible that the mystery pokémon just had an ability good for tracking and wasn't either of those typings. It meant that Red was left in the dark. He didn't like being left in the dark.

They were on one of the most straightforward routes of the region, a straight shot from one end to the other. It was famous even back home for its mild climate and eternally green forests that made it a perfect spot to picnic when the weather permitted it. Past the forests were some of the most dangerous wild pokémon known to the region, shaped by rules absent of humans since the dawn of recorded history. Each of the paths had their own histories attached of generations of brave explorers piercing through the wilds, generations of clans sketching out tiny pre-routes which would connect the lower part of the region with the higher, before a region-wide effort was made into connecting all the cities without disturbing the old-growth forests; that Pallet Town still was disconnected from the center of the region was a matter that most of its residents bitterly complained about, especially when much worse no-name towns of ten people had tiny backroads that could cut through swathes of the region instead of having to do a roundabout path to Saffron.

Essentially, this was one of the only places in the region where exploring was absolutely never recommended even for the gym leaders.

Which is why Red's eyes felt like they nearly popped out of their sockets when Lane was getting nearer to the forest. He wanted to stop looking, waiting for the Arbok to swallow the boy whole before slithering back to its den, but it was as if he were watching a horror movie where the protagonist was willingly traipsing into the basement. Lane got stuck lifting his foot over a thick branch. Realizing that he was alone made him wave back.

"Come on! I know a good place over here! It's pretty free of any dangerous pokémon." Lane glanced back again. "Come on, come on!"

"No," Red said, continuing to walk.

"There's rare pokémon where I want to take you if that's your fancy," Lane said.

"There are also rare pokémon over at the safari zone. I'm not going off route," Red said.

"Bawk bawk bawk bawk."

Red didn't even humor that one.

"Ugh, fine! It's a certified place! Known to the locals or whatever. Besides, don't you consider Lulu to be an ace pokémon? She'll easily fend off any wild pokémon. If you want then I'll have her out the entire walk," Lane said, flexing his arm. Underneath the thin, cheap material was a bruise where a beak tried to tear a piece of him off.

That one made Red actually consider it. All of that was true. If Lane was going to actually try, then this was the same person who held off a gym leader. And this was also the same person who got him an Eevee for free no matter if the methods were shady. His eyes weren't wide with greed necessarily, though Red would have to be an idiot to ignore the power boost.

Red finally walked over to the treeline, nearly pushing Lane over as he rolled through the thick brush that prevented either of them from seeing further in.

Lurantis took the lead as the mower chopping roots that were older than all of them combined. Hardy plants evolved to become the great wall fending off the wilds, becoming a construct that had survived through tsunamis. Thick barreled trees intermingled with plants that suckled off their roots, tangled with brambles that would hide their thorns underneath greener plants. Leaves would get stuck on their clothes, quickly ripped off until they realized it was an endless task. Lurantis did her best in making the path maneuverable. The larger bushes were trimmed and low lying branches chopped and the debris patted down by their shoes. Through all of this, Red didn't see any pokémon. He imagined that anything other than bug-types navigating through the thick walls of plant life would have a difficult time. An Ariados lowered down on her web to watch the intruders walk past her territory.

Knowing the actual distance they walked would've made Red balk. Mere neighborhood blocks had been crossed in the timespan of over an hour. Chopping through a wild forest had made walking a fight to free their pants from branches that didn't want to let go. But the light at the end of the tunnel gleamed, the sun reflecting off the white rocks that stuck out like veins from the dark ones. The forest gave way to a small strip of grasses before turning into rocks that gently descended into the ocean. Birds of all types could now be seen circling around the sky. Herds of pokémon stuck just outside the thick brush. Many turned to look at the new additions before going back to their meals. There wasn't any reason to be afraid. Experience bolstered their confidence.

It was a nice place, Red had to admit. This was the sort of place where only those in the know knew, and those who knew only knew through those who know. He gave a side-eye to Lane, who proudly stuck his chest out against the wilds.

"And this is where I wanted to go! Beautiful, isn't it? Reminds me of, well, a place next to the ocean!" Lane said.

"A place?"

"A place. Any one." Lane stopped posing so he could kick a rock down the slope. It was swallowed by the waters. "I'm not that much of a fan of the ocean. Seen one coast, seen 'em all. So! Any of these guys catch your eye?"

That was something he disagreed with. Such a thick forest ending so abruptly was unique. And the way that the plants seemed to recede into the ground was another. The ocean of multicolored rocks slanting downwards had its own shore of grass, with the afro-shaped bushes exploding out of the veins of dirt kept in check by the grazing pokémon, and the peaks of trees varying in height giving the area a dynamic look. There was also the sheer amount of wild pokémon pacing that made Red's feet remain locked as he tried comprehending the whole scene. The foamy waves seemed to try creeping up with their clawed hands and brush against the water-types sunbathing.

A single Ninetales oversaw Vulpix as the younger pokémon dared each other to get nearer to the waves. Once one of them lost their footing on the slick rocks, they were surrounded by a pink glow that dragged them back to land. No bravado was lost by the fire-type nearly being swept away. They went right back to the game. All of them had a single brilliant white tail. Much too young, Red admitted to himself, and he was afraid of being charred alive if the Ninetales was feeling uppity that day.

A bug with a giant mushroom on its back waddled out of the forest to scare away a group of Venonats that got too close. When they were a proper distance away, it went back into its den of wood and grass. Red didn't like that line of pokémon. They were creepy. There was a rumor back in Pallet Town that their original mayor had been taken over by the same mushroom that infected them.

Primeapes swung from the branches down so they could feast on a bush of oran berries—thankfully very far away. A Dodrio that was relaxing nearby took off with a cacophony of squawks, not willing to deal with a battle at that moment. Red doubted his ability to control the pokémon's violent temper, and knew that extracting one from a group would just escalate into an all-out brawl.

In the center of a mass of yellow, pink, and purple was a single Poliwrath that made gestures like it was telling a story. Most of the crowd didn't seem too interested. They just languidly followed the cool moves that the fully evolved pokémon threw out occasionally as they continued chewing on seaweed and starfish. Only the Pikachu were reacting to the story itself. They gasped along with the twists, and excitedly electrified the air with the turns. The water-types were much too strong to be scared of the little sparkling. It was the final actor in the story who caught his eye. Sticking out of the ocean watching with sparkling eyes was a pokémon so rare that sob stories about their situation would hit the airwaves. Hunting, catching, and the like had thinned out their population. It was one of those things where you just stared at your computer screen wondering what was wrong with people.

"I see that something over there has caught your eye," Lane said. Red thought that he only gave the scene a single glance. "I doubt it's the Slowpoke or Pikachu. So it's either the Shellder, Poliwrath, or Lapras. Poliwrath would be a pretty okay boon to your team. He'd break through steel-types pretty easily."

Red's eyebrow furrowed. "Steel-types?"

"Ah. Right. Kanto education. Don't mind me. What's your gambit? You gonna get yourself a fighting-type?"

It spoke as to how much trust Red had in the other boy that he was hesitant even saying his preference. Only after deciding that it wouldn't hurt did Red speak. "I want a 're very cool. I always wanted them."

"I see, I see. Why don't you go ask that one if you can catch it then?"

"Just seems kind of…lame?" Red looked around at the many evolved pokémon that were relaxing at the shores. "I don't know about getting a Lapras when there's so many powerful pokémon around."

"Do you want one?"

"Well, yeah."

"It's not like you to be so indecisive, hero."

Red agreed with that. So much so that he walked up to the pokémon having a storytime. The Pikachu were much more startled than the others were when he approached, their cheeks coming aglow. Poliwrath didn't even flex. He knew that two humans weren't too much of a problem, and neither was the weird bug-type that was swiping the air.

"Lapras. Would you like to join me? I'm a trainer."

Lane nudged Red's arm. "Show them your pokémon, hero. He'd be more convinced if you had proof you're reliable."

Red obliged, unhooking his most evolved pokémon from his belt. A mighty roar scared the skin off most of the pokémon in the area. All the prey fled down the coast while the predators warily regarded the new top dog in the area. All of a sudden Poliwrath was a little more intimidated.

"Oh, he evolved. Cool," Lane said.

"If you want to be strong, then I can help you. Come with me and we can work to be the strongest in the entire region."

A cry, similar to Lane's whistle, pierced through the whipping wind.

Lane was living the life. Days of pain stretched out past the easy routes, letting him relax against a tree as Red upped the ante on the training. Something about an evolution—Charizard's snout hadn't poked out until the shore, joining with the others in the training from then on. It was entertaining and practical, giving Lane plenty of time to cope with the various aches that started revolving around each other like a solar system.

Vastly entertaining would be underselling it. The growth made him sweat, wondering if there was some kind of performance-enhancing drug that was hidden inside of those innocuous brown pellets that was simply lost when feeding your partner natural salads. Somehow within a single trip the Charizard had evolved. He could shoot fire accurately enough to singe specific branches in a thick forest without charring a single other tree. It was only in flight that the pokémon was faltering, his new gigantic wings giving both of them trouble. Red went through training routines, wing flexes and whatever he could think of, that made his pokémon look more ridiculous than actually helping.

One night, halfway through the route, Charizard attempted doing late night practice. The volumes of displaced air screeched as they buffeted the ground, waking everyone up. Red made sure that the pokémon was well too tired to attempt anything like that again.

Yet focusing on the most dramatic improvement (suddenly the flamethrowers were leaving only shadows behind, making Lane warily keep away from the firing ranges) would be doing a disservice to the rest of the pokémon's work. Eevee had become a genuine fighter during that time, able to run laps around the much slower Wartortle. That didn't make the geysers that carved valleys into the ground any less dangerous, nor the beacons that lit up second suns from the little yellow rat. Lane made sure to avoid those sparring sessions too. The best things were appreciated from a distance.

As for his own training, he made sure to give extra attention to hugging one of his pokémon in his lap; most of the time it was Dunsparce as an apology for the forest. They'd snuggle together, lazily watching as the rest became stronger everyday. Lapras, the newest addition, was simply made to watch in horror as his new teammates revealed themselves to be monsters in the guise of cute critters, at least until Red found a training regimen that he liked.

So they went on. Another week of walking eventually had them cradled in Fuchsia City, the tip of the south, no poignant nicknames to describe the town tucked away in a somewhat forgotten tip of the region. Red didn't like saying 'forgotten' because there really was no place more forgotten than Pallet Town and he felt as if that'd be betraying his home admitting that.

Making an appointment at the gym was supposed to be a normal affair. He'd walk in and tell them his name, they'd have a slot open for him, then he'd show up at the time they gave. Boom. Nothing special about it. The gym leader being present didn't change much either. It just gave Red a chance to get a better grip on their personality. The steely-gazed man seemed to be reading their movements from the first step in the door.

Then, of course, the gym leader had to recognize the thorn in his side. It wasn't meant to be obvious, but when the poison gym leader stared too long for Red to notice, it became a full on glare. They knew each other. Red wasn't sure what could make the stoic man break out into the same look that Red wore, but he knew it was most likely from something just as stupid.

Lane gave a peace sign.

They were kicked out of the gym shortly afterwards. At least Red had the opportunity to get scheduled for his gym battle, even if the only thing that he learned about Koga was his strong moral objection to Lane existing. There was a hint of something—salt, he deduced—mixed in with the nippy morning air that made it hard to breath without shivering. Unlike all the other cities, Fuschia was in full force when they entered. No silly guardsmen or Team Rocket had impeded their daily lives. Kids played in the streets and adults were relaxing at public chess tables and the oldest relaxed on porches. That didn't make Red's mood any less sour.

"I don't like you," Red said.

"I don't even get why he looked at me like that. All I asked was for something and he gave it to me. Like, what's the problem with this?"

Lane took out the bomb as if it were a peace offering. Before any passerby could see the wired pipe, Red wrestled it out of the other boy's grip and pushed it behind his jacket. The tiny sun felt like it was burning a hole in his clothes.

"What are you doing?" Red hissed.

"I needed a bomb so I asked if Koga could give me one," Lane said, shrugging. "Don't worry about it. It's not real."

"How do you know that?"

"You really think Koga is the type to give a kid a real bomb? Besides, look at how amateur it looks. There's no way that he has those just laying around." Lane thought for a moment. "Okay, he did come out with that really fast which means it was laying around for some reason, but it's not real."

Red held it out when nobody was looking, opening his jacket while facing the gym to make sure that nobody saw. It looked like they were doing a shady deal.

"Take it!" he hissed.

"Fine, fine. No need to get your undies in a twist," Lane said as he took the bomb. He mimed throwing it like a pokéball. Even Lulu decided this was in bad taste as the smack to the back of his leg was harder than normal.

"No more of that! Since we have a few days, I'd like to look around the town instead of just training like I have with all the previous ones." Red kept his stare even, shoving his hands into his pockets. "That means I'd like it if you didn't run us out of town or something."

"You're acting like I'm a wild animal."

"You are."

Lane stuffed the pipe bomb back into his bag. "Fine, fine. Let's start with the pokémon safari. I'm sure that there'll be a lot of valuable things there. Oh, yes there are. Believe me. The most valuable-est things are there."

It was what he intended to do anyway. Red took out his pokédex to get it another check as they walked. It's not that the device wasn't useful, but that Red himself wasn't in the mindset to really use it. His goal was actually completing the pokédex so the data that it used was more accurate—or something to that effect. As usual, he tuned out the professor when the man was explaining it. Going about like a normal trainer on a journey meant that he didn't try scouring the entirety of Kanto to note down their ecosystem. He wanted to battle!

Finally being on the latter half of his journey had started making him contemplate all the things that he'd skipped over in his rush. The pokédex, for one, which he promised to at least try filling it up. There were plenty of sights that weren't about pokémon in each of the cities because, despite what the pokéball companies wanted you to believe, there was life outside of pokémon and because, despite what Blue talked behind his back, Red actually had interests outside of pokémon—like botany. He loved trees. Those things were awesome. There were so many trees that he glanced over in favor of going through his journey faster. The complicated, sour taste of regret twisted his tongue. It wasn't meant for a child's mouth.

Lane glanced back at the little piece of plastic. Despite what the technology would imply, the pokédex was far from completed. Many common pokémon were missing whereas others had entire entries. Invented just before Red had started his journey, the device was purported to be able to store data on caught pokémon and analyze wild ones for their typings—that's it. Lane was watching history be made as Red was collecting data that would be used to create a modernized pokédex. For Lane's purposes, the contemporary pokédex was hardly more useful as a door stopper.

The entrance to the safari zone was a quaint little building that had posters plastered on the walls about the pokémon that one could find in the area. Detailed statistics were also listed in a secluded corner of the place; government regulations forced pokéball companies to list the capture rates on their products, especially for the safari balls. A huge number, 95%, bragged that you could easily catch even a healthy Nidoran with six balls. Left underneath it were the chances for other pokémon. At the very bottom was the pitiful 25% catch rate of Kangaskhan. The worst part? That number wasn't for a healthy Kangaskhan. It assumed that it was poisoned and damaged. Lane loved how blatant false advertising was universal.

Standing behind the counter handing out safari balls and passes to the trainers were two very familiar faces. Red didn't recognize them. Neither did they, or they were really good at hiding their reactions, because both pass and balls slid across the counter as if there were no animosity. Lane could immediately recognize the mole underneath the woman's eye and the hooked nose of the man. It made sense how they were running into each other again. After the disastrous arrests from two failed gambits, Team Rocket's numbers had thinned out. Most likely they only had a limited number of people on hand for their operations across the region, but that'd be giving the organization getting dismantled by a kid (prodigy, yet still a kid) some kind of agency rather than knowing they're boneheaded.

"Go ahead," Lane said when Red looked back. "I've got some things to do while you're in there."

"More shopping?" Red asked.

Lane winked. His eyes roamed the ceiling. No cameras. "You know me so well."

Red rolled his eyes, disappearing into the cultivated wilderness past the gate. Lane nudged his head to the loyal pokémon that was following him.

"Keep an eye out. Make sure that nobody interferes with the conversation," Lane said. Lulu lazily saluted.

He walked up to the counter, keeping an easy-going smile. The people didn't recognize him either. In complete fairness to them, he was wearing an entirely different outfit.

"Welcome to the safari zone! Would you like me to explain the rules?" the man asked.

"Sure! I've never been to the safari zone before. My momma says that it's a big, big, big place with lots of pokémon to take home!" Lane said.

The smile that the receptionist had was genuine enough.

"You cannot use your own pokémon while in the safari zone. We'll provide some balls for you to catch to your heart's content within a limited timeframe. Whatever you catch, you keep."

"But sir! How am I to catch pokémon if I can't weaken them with my own pokémon?" Lane asked.

The receptionist lifted a bag and let its uneven weight settle on the counter. "We'll provide you with rocks and bait. Use the rocks to weaken pokémon and the bait to make them unaware of your approach. A pro will be able to easily use most of these by the time they're done with pockets full of new pokémon."

"Wow, wow, wow! I just have one more question! How much money does Team Rocket purloin from the profits made from the safari zone?"

Both the receptionists stared at him. They glanced about the room, realizing that nobody was inside. All of a sudden the faux-friendly atmosphere disappeared as both of them went to their waists.

"We have no idea what you're talking about," the woman said.

"Sure you do. You're Team Rocket. I doubt that you've gone clean since the last time we met. So that means you're currently working as Team Rocket grunts. I think that means this place is another front for them, or maybe you're destroying them from the inside?" Lane made a face like he was thinking hard before shrugging. "It doesn't matter. Either way the outcome is the same. You're going to fleece your pockets and give me everything that you have."

The man scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. What power do you have? We've already called up security to deal with you. You'll be kicked out like the raving mad lunatic you are."

That was a lie. There was no panic button underneath the counter. They were the security.

"Right. That's nice and all. Let's add another thing into this equation: I can stalk you. I can find out where you sleep. And you know what I'll do when I find out?"

The pipe bomb thumped on the counter. The woman was looking at it, uncomprehending, until the wires properly crossed in her head. She screeched. The man had already been backing away as if Lane were some maniac that would send them all sky high.

"Why does a kid have a bomb!?" the man screamed.

"He's the brat! He's the one that we met back outside Saffron! The one who made us ambush that other kid! How didn't we recognize him!?"

Lane banged the pipe bomb again, getting another scream. "'Made'? I didn't make you do anything. Come on. Empty 'em out. I've got stuff to get later and I need the money."

"We're not giving you anything! Security! Security!"

Lane shrugged, putting the bomb back in his bag. "Alright. I'll be seeing you two tonight."

Both of them tried yelling as he left. Neither were acknowledged. Lurantis was warily glancing around for anybody that could've been listening in, chittering nervously about the whole situation.

After a quick diversion, Lane found a comfy bench to sit on and plopped down. Waiting. Waiting.

It took ten minutes for someone to finally approach. Ten! In that time he could've actually set down the pipe bomb and skedaddled from the city. It had given him plenty of time to prepare, which wouldn't have happened if they'd confronted him immediately. Lurantis was gone so he was just an innocent boy on a bench being accosted by a grumpy old man in a silly outfit.

"And what do you do when I first take my eyes off you? I never should've humored you," Koga said.

Lane tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

Koga chuffed, blowing out his mask slightly. "Sure. Pretend that you've done nothing. Come on up. You're not getting away with this little prank."

Another man came running. Almost at the level to be called portly, his thick sweater looked to be overcompensating. Only the glasses that were half the size of his eyes said that the man had import. Only rich people wore such inconvenient glasses in Lane's mind. Sweat gathered underneath his collar by the time he skidded to a stop just short of ramming into Koga.

"This is the ruffian who threatened Wanda and Iato?" the man said.

"The very same. I was already going to give him a dressing down."

The scene continued to be set. A scandalous affair in the center of town with two of the most important men gathered. Men and women gathered around with questions on their tongues, rumors spread around in real time that shifted the crowd's opinion. It didn't take long before Lane was in the center of an angry mob who were shouting their opinions about things that the issue wasn't even about.

The two clerks walked through the people. Condolences and pats on the back were given to the heroes as they confronted a kid who couldn't even reach over their heads.

"That's him! That's the one!" Wanda yelled.

"What's this even about? I still don't know," Lane said. He pointed at the man in the sweater. "I also don't know you. You seem important—legally. Like you're the one with the money."

The man preened underneath the praise. "I am Mayor Rose. And once Officer Jenny is here, we can talk about revoking whatever privileges you enjoyed before, trainer."

Was 'trainer' some kind of insult? Lane was a little too dull to recognize that.

A tinny horn beckoned the crowd to part, letting the vehicle rumble into the center of the debacle. A woman with teal hair took in the situation as she stepped forwards imperiously. Almost all the actors had gathered. Lane was counting down the seconds before their final one, the pièce de résistance, joined.

Now, while this perhaps isn't the best time, it's prudent to mention that Fuschia is an insulated city even in Kanto's terms. Being put away from the major cities and having nothing else than the ninja's culture that painted the town its own flavor, outsiders weren't known for stopping by very often. Those who came were either delivering something or fighting in the League. The town wasn't small enough for 'everybody to know everybody' but for a definite culture of protecting their own to develop.

Jenny had a dirty little secret: she was from the Johto side of the family. Everytime asked for her opinion of her home city, Celadon, she'd just give her real opinion from the times she'd visited family there for New Years. But it was a lie! A white lie so they wouldn't look at her differently, but a real lie. Goldenrod was her home and police work was her gig that she wanted to do since every Jenny was a police officer (except for her aunt Jenny, who became a painter). After becoming twenty-two she went to the Officer Academy of the Red Feather, founded by a man who had seen Ho-oh and claimed that the bird had given him a vision; in a fit of fever over the next week, he'd write the entirety of the 'Codex Red Feather' which would serve as the basis for the fledgling Johto's law. Red feathers had a lot of symbolism for this reason and was also the reason that she had an inflatable pool float that was shaped like a feather.

It's why had an unmistakable modern-ness that made her older colleagues uncomfortable. On the front of her motorcycle was a decal of her favorite coordinator, Fantina, doing her iconic pose. This was a fellow outsider of the town. One who'd been blearily reading about the implications of a new ruling from the courts—she was awake later than normal playing horseshoes with her friends—when there was a call from the mayor. She kept repeating the call incredulously since she'd put the phone town.

"Can somebody repeat the claim? What was it? Someone threatened Wanda and Iato with a," she paused again, taking in the absurdity of the situation before continuing, "pipe bomb?"

The crowd gasped in sync.

"You heard it right. Here's your culprit right here," Koga said, pointing at Lane.

The crowd gasped harder in sync.

Jenny looked at the young, innocent, bored-looking kid who was relaxing on a bench. She held up her hand to stall the whispers. She was very annoyed that they had started the impromptu interrogation outside. Theatrics had always unfortunately been Koga's weakness. Now it was either interrogating a child in front of the entire town or taking him in for questioning, thus justifying the absurd claim to all the dullards who were watching.

"Are we sure that it was this boy?" Jenny asked.

"I'm sure," Koga said.

Jenny felt like strangling him. "What do you mean, 'you're sure'? We have Electrodes in the region! Who goes around threatening people with pipe bombs? How did the kid even get a pipe bomb?"

"Does that matter?" Koga asked.

The mayor scratched his unevenly shaved chin. "Well, now that I think about it, that's a good question. Perhaps it's a fake pipe bomb? That would still be illegal since he threatened people with it, but I doubt that someone of his age has the skill to create his own pipe bomb."

"Are you people crazy? He said that he was going to stalk us and use that pipe bomb against us! He showed it to us!" Wanda yelled.

The crowd gasped, again.

"Do we have any witnesses?" Jenny urged.

"Just these two," the mayor said. "They came up yelling something fierce up to my door, yes they did. Called around to tell all of you right after."

"Look, we know Wanda and Iato. We don't know this kid. Are we really going to be trusting his word over theirs? He hasn't even denied it!" Koga yelled, pointing at him.

Lane pointed to himself. "I thought that I wouldn't have to say anything 'cause it's so weird. I don't even have a pipe bomb on me."

"You could've easily gotten rid of it after threatening them," Koga said.

"So he wouldn't get in trouble. Kids like you are the impulsive sort." The mayor nodded along with his own theory. "Yes, that does about do it. Even if it were a fake pipe bomb then it's still a crime to threaten people with it. This goes beyond cruel prank and into the territory of real criminal behavior—like Team Rocket!"

The crowd gasped, again, loudly.

Lane put a finger on his mouth. "Oh, now that you mention it, those guys are Team Rocket. Maybe that's why they're mad at me? 'Cause I helped go in and bust up all their stuff that one time."

The crowd gasped, no longer in sync as the revelation sunk in at different times. Their heads perked up a little too, which made a wave of bobbing heads pulse through the crowd. This time they didn't bother keeping to a whisper, keeping a dull drone of hurried conversation behind the interrogation.

Koga glanced over his shoulder at the pair. "These two Team Rocket? Pah! That's a good joke. They've lived here all their lives."

"Why wait so long to say that these two are Team Rocket? Seems as if you're trying to make excuses for your own behavior, criminal! Jenny, take him away!" the mayor yelled.

She raised her hand, frustrated. Letting a bit of her authoritative voice leak against the mayor wasn't smart even if it felt good.

"This kid was the one who helped destroy Team Rocket's base back in Celadon City. Yes, that's exactly who you are! I knew you looked familiar."

"You're going to accuse Wanda of all people of being Team Rocket?" Koga pointed to the woman. She was attempting to look teary-eyed but just looked nervous. "She's lived here her entire life and has been a staple in the community. There is no way that she'd ever be Team Rocket!"

"Jenny, be careful of what you say here. We're talking about fully grown adults here. A single heroic action being done doesn't make this boy any less of a boy. He's most likely only throwing out accusations to save his own hide," the mayor said.

Finally came the final flourish that would complete the play. Lane started wildly waving his arms, standing on the bench and pointing to make sure there was no chance that his target would escape.

"Oh, hey Red. Come over here! These guys are yelling at me."

Red was just attracted to the commotion like everybody else, and without the blessing of height letting him see over the crowd, he was forced to be much closer than he wanted to be. Red hobbled over with his head slightly down. Doing that let him avoid the incriminating stare from the gym leader he was supposed to fight later.

"Who are you?" Red asked.

Lane pointed at the two who finally recognized Red. "Aren't those the two people you beat up back at Route Eight?"

Red turned around. The only show of surprise was the long blink that he did. "...oh. The Team Rocket Grunts, yeah? Yeah, that's them. Weren't you two at the safari zone?"

The crowd gasped even louder, which is what happens when it grows larger and larger until half of the town's population that wasn't working was witnessing the play. Jenny, finally exasperated, decided that she needed to be a woman of action. The cuffs were broken out as all six of the actors started trying to shout over each other.

"I hate you," Red said from across the stone hallway.

"I hate you too," Wanda said.

"I knew this was a bad idea," Iato groaned.

The last person rattled the bars of their cell. "I didn't get to eat today yet! Can we have a meal!"

No answer. Officer Jenny was across town fiercely interrogating an increasingly nervous Koga about why he thought it was a good idea to give a kid something that looked like a pipe bomb in the first place. On the face of it, the story was the perfect picture of government incompetence. Two community leaders turned out to be a part of Team Rocket. The gym leader gives a kid asking for bombs a lookalike. The mayor very nearly fired Jenny after she interrogated the gym leader too hard. Further investigation revealed that the safari zone had been a Team Rocket front for years and had all the profits going towards further building their criminal empire. The only way that the story could've been worse was yet to come. Journalists were already hard at work trying to find juicy details that would make the story even more absurd. No pipe bombs, fake or not, were found at either of the grunt's homes, which disappointed those that wanted a morally gray story.

Jenny begged with tears in her eyes that night for nothing worse to happen. Yet it was an undoing of her own making that had forced the woman to lay off the books for a long time coming; she'd been having an innocent call with one of her male relatives over in Johto that ended with her complaining of her case. That man, who was a consistent leaker to the press known only as 'Mr. Jenny', just so happened to leak info to a Johto-based newspaper about something going down in Fuschia. What was originally a silent case covered by the local papers had erupted overnight into a full-blown storm that everybody had an opinion on. The mayor and Koga suspected Jenny of the leak and she'd been kicked back to Johto later that week. She resented her new position that made her work more.

In short, there was nobody manning the prison that night as all hands were controlling the fallout. If a thief walked through the front door then he could easily take all the prisoner's pokémon without anybody even knowing—not the pipe bomb, however. Jenny was starting to doubt that it was actually real since it wasn't in any of their packs, nor in their homes, and her Growlithe hadn't sniffed it out inside the town.

Lane started banging a beat on his bed. Then he started whistling a popular pop song that was dominating Kanto's radio stations.

"Ugh. I hate this song," Wanda said.

"I kind of like it," Iato said.

Lane forgot how the chorus went so he made it up.

"Stop butchering this song. I actually like it," Red said.

"You were offbeat there," Iato said.

Red rested his head at the back of his cell. At least the accommodations weren't as horrible as a prison could be. There was a bed that had a mattress which had been recently replaced, a toilet with privacy, and a window that gave them a view outside. With a few additions to the decor it could pass as a room in a cheap pokémon center.

Then he remembered that he was sitting in a cell right next to literal Team Rocket members. Even the whistling wasn't as annoying as that.

Wartortle was easily skirting around the globs of poison that Venonat was firing. It was mystifying to Red that this person could qualify for a gym leader. Three of a single pokémon species were on Koga's team that could've easily been trounced by Charizard working alone. "Misdirection was a valuable strategy," said Koga, or some other, but that didn't work when most of the man's moves could be burned through with overwhelming force.

That felt cheap. Red recognized during the fight in the Pokémon Tower that his other pokémon weren't anywhere near evolving. Surely Wartortle wouldn't of had the fortitude to take out the Team Rocket ambush. Therefore it made sense to spread out his fights more between his team.

"Let's go, Red! Bring it home!"

Red gritted his teeth. And then there was him. The person who wasted most of the time that was supposed to be for relaxing by getting them locked up in prison. All sorts of apologies were slung around when Jenny found the truth, along with the mayor giving both of them expensive TMs, but that wasn't enough for him. All of the time that he was supposed to be relaxing was ruined. It didn't matter if the grunts were locked up and Koga was punished and he was going to get his badge when his free time was being jeopardized.

Koga tried emphasizing his height over the smaller boy, which just made Red snort in derision. He swiped his badge out of the gloved hand and left without looking back. Outside of town he walked. Lane said hello to a ranger they walked by, making the woman do a spit take. He didn't care. He didn't care about the Eevee and the Lapras. All he wanted was that brief time of freedom while walking to the Pokémon Tower.

West of town was a little route that barely could be called one, and hadn't been one until the artificial land bridge was built that jutted out straight into the former bay. It had always been a place of great comfort, having a sense of calm that pervaded even amongst the wild pokémon; it wasn't an uncommon sight to find the pill-shaped Raticates laying in a long line around the coast, mouths hanging open in contentment. Tiny fixtures were added over the years—many which had decades of debate whether it was proper to install a trash can in a purportedly natural place, an argument defeated by the place officially becoming Route 18—that reminded one that just past the few trunks and a checkpoint was a city, big enough that you could hear murmurs like there was a ghost standing behind you.

On bright days it seemed like an idyllic island of peace. The fog bank in the distance watched them. Under the gloomy, filtered light each unpainted splinter stuck out from the white fence that was built as close to the land's edge as they were willing and the rust building on the swiveling parts of the coin-operated binoculars. The dirt path usually making up routes had been smoothed over a whole clearing where bikers freely rode circles before going back over the bridge.

Red led them to where no bikers, picnickers, or tourists would be bothered.

"So what's wrong, hero? You seem to be brooding more than you usually do."

Red turned around with a pokéball already in hand. "Fight me."

"But hero~!"

Red threw out his pokéball. Lane, shrugging in disbelief, threw out his too. Charizard gave an angry roar as Dunsparce wriggled, hoping that he could cover himself in dirt and disappear.

"Charizard, use flamethrower!" Red yelled.

Lane didn't bother giving a command. Before the pokémon could react, Dunsparce was gone with only a superheated hole to show for. The ranger yelled in the background about respecting the integrity of the routes. Pokémon battles always changed plans. Bikers kicked out their feet around a perimeter as the loiterers decided that pokémon battling was more interesting than seeing the waves lap over each other.

"Fire down the hole!"

Charizard's hefty body landed on the ground with a thud, fire streaming from its nostrils. Coil, strike. The tunnel was filled with heat so intense that an extra few centimeters were shaved off. Before the pokémon could look back for new orders, a rock impacted the bottom of his jaw. His head swung upwards like a boxer threw a haymaker. Spittle sizzling hot dripped down.

"Get off the ground, Charizard!" Red yelled.

The pokémon reacted just in time for the ground beneath it to collapse. Rocks from the cloud of dust followed that were too sudden to dodge. The first impacted with Charizard's wing, causing it to twirl out of flight. The rest flew over the pokémon's head as it tilted down onto the floor. The newly disturbed dirt parted as the massive body sent another cloud of dust flying in the air. It quickly readjusted so that its head was sticking out of the mound.

Popping out from the hole was a shivering pokémon. Without a gesture from his trainer, Dunsparce smashed his body against the ground to create a wave of earth.

But this wasn't the same pokémon that they would've destroyed in a fight from months earlier. What Dunsparce thought was a finishing blow became its own demise as it wasn't prepared to move. Only the dust brightening gave a warning before fire blasted through the brown curtain, strong enough to blow away the rest of the cloud. Dunsparce screeched as he felt like he was being melted. Far back during their first fight, the burn hurt more than the initial attack. Two evolutions had amped up the flamethrower until the air kept shimmering long after the flames dissipated. Dunsparce was blown onto its back, tilting back and forth to try rubbing dirt against its new burn.

When both trainers could finally see, a tomb was created for the giant lizard. A crater had been created then quickly filled in to only allow the tips of Charizard's nostrils to poke through. Yet even this had enough room for him to perfectly nail Dunsparce in the face. Charizard being recalled caused the ground that he was inside to collapse, only a tiny imperfection the last sign he'd been buried there. The crowd cheered in delight.

Lane recalled his pokémon with a frown. That amount of growth was absurd. His own training had taken months before Lulu was anywhere near battle ready, and he was beginning to realize that his own version of 'battle ready' just meant that his pokémon understood English. None of the raw power was behind any of Dunsparce's attacks which was why it took several rock-type moves to take down a flying/fire-type.

If Red was smart, then he would've noticed that his pokémon evening out the fight in a single hit was absurd. Day by day Red got better. Lane was unsure if he could win if Red gritted his teeth and stuck to fighting. He was banking on Red not being smart and was rewarded with another new figure being revealed.

Wartortle let out a battle cry as he was released. Lulu hit the ground running already.

"Wartortle! Use water gun!"

"Sunny day. Why not," Lane said, faking a disinterested tone.

The heat became scorching. Even the water that spat across the field seemed to dissipate faster before smashing into the timid pokémon's face. Lulu certainly didn't have to fake stoicism. The water didn't even make her blink.

"Ah, hero. You've still got a ways to go. You're not very creative. You're all about power and stuff. If you want it, then here you go. Face the power of the contrarians!" Lane waved his hand in the air. "Lulu! Smack him around a bit and finish the job!"

Lulu started assaulting Wartortle with a barrage of punches. Right, left, pivot on her foot and give them an uppercut, there were so many that collectively did damage rather than any single punch having any power. Wartortle's training made it better at hitting agile opponents, yet what use was that when it only knew normal and water-type moves? Blast of water would miss when she already pivoted to his side. He had to readjust his aim while still firing, which ended up making most attacks overcorrect. The cyclists watching had to duck multiple times to avoid getting splashed with the remnants of a sprinkler.

Those strikes weren't weak for long. Each hit that connected was slightly stronger. Before long, the Wartortle was groaning in discomfort with each solid hit that landed on his shell, until eventually he was stumbling from glancing blows. Red's eyes bulged when his pokémon was turned into an impromptu soccer ball, skidding to a halt in front of him.

"That's enough. Synthesis and finish it."

A green blur passed by Red. He blinked. He turned around. Wartortle had slammed into the fence like he was a boxer, arms wrapped around the tops and head lolling on his shell. Lane was spinning an empty key ring on his finger. Where he got that and why he had it out wasn't on Red's mind as the feeling of defeat sank in.

"I forfeit," Red said. He ignored the cheers that came from the spectators as he knelt down to his fallen pokémon. No marks were left behind. It was as if his pokémon didn't even get out of a battle. He whispered, "so I need to be at champion level to defeat him. There's no way that a single gym badge would help at this point. I've gotten five and he still beats me easily."

Lane came sashaying, whistling the same tune that he butchered in prison for the days they were trapped there. "So, hero, what was the deal with that? Just wanted to see where you stand?"

A glare from a distant boat covered up the flash as Wartortle was back safe in his ball.

"Do you have a bike, Lane?"

"A bike? No."

"Good." Red withdrew the folding bike that he had in his bag. It was amazing technology that they were coming out with in his lifetime. Space technology—or some sort of -ology that Red could never remember—had advanced by bounds within his lifetime. First it was invented when he was in school, then they were able to pack all the groceries in a single bag, and that was not advisable since the eggs could randomly be jostled when in there. Some companies took the hint and made items that originally weren't foldable, foldable. That made them break much easier, but Red thought that the tradeoff was worth it. "I'm going down the biking path."

Lane had to compute the sentence for a moment before raising his finger. "Wait, that means we're going to be separated."

"I know."

Red got on his bike and pedaled faster than he ever did before. Within a minute he was pulling onto the bridge, away from Lane's ability to follow him.

It made his lips twitch. The surrounding people started splitting off. Lulu glanced back, quickly running to her trainer when she realized that he was still standing there. Lane stared at the retreating back until it faded into the fog. Slowly the clearing became invisible. His hands were slowly bouncing against his waist.

"He just left? But it was just a joke." Nearby Fomantis poked his head out of a bush. His claws were wrapped around a familiar rod that was thrown into Lane's pack. He stomped away, nervously patting down his palms. "He'll be back. We'll see each other again. Come on, Lulu, Fomantis. Um, I guess I'll recall you, Fomantis. Do you want to be on my shoulder? I'll put you on my shoulder. Hehe. Let's go. Let's go. We'll meet him again. Yeah. Yeah."

A/N: The real April Fools were the friends we made along the way. I honestly meant to have this out on Friday because I didn't want the wait to be too annoying but, uh, here it is! I was thrown in a little bit of a tizzy when releasing this chapter because of the scene with Koga and the others. I want the story to be always straddling the line of "this shouldn't happen" and then "actually, maybe it could happen, especially in the Pokemon universe?" which I already feel some parts are leaning too far into the former. Ehh. Maybe I'll change this stuff later.

I also wanted to wait a little longer because I nearly have my new story(ies?) done and I wanted to drop everything all at once. Oh well. Maybe next chapter.

If the fight was totally written out, Lane could've still won IMO. Red was focusing so much on his Charizard that his other pokemon are still unevolved. There's definitely a debate to be had that's never going to be confirmed. The next time they meet Red will be able to curbstomp Lane.

If there's any reviews, sorry! I'll respond later. I have to drop this chapter and dip. R8, h8, and deb8 and I'll see you all l8r.