That wouldn’t be good in any mental case.

"Huh?" she snapped her focus back at the Rockets and saw another appear out of nowhere, he began talking to the other two and instantly those two ran off somewhere with the other Rocket, the exit was Rocket-free!

Of course…after a couple of years they would become cocky now wouldn’t they? She thought as she stepped out of her hiding place and hurried down Route 2. Since the visit with Richard she hadn’t been able to do much but go to the edge of Viridian City and wait till well, for something to distract those Rockets so she could slip by. Yet it didn’t happen till some time after noon.

But she did get to keep the poke’gear. Richard guess that it might come in handy and she might find a repair shop for the map section within the poke’gear in Cerulean City. Yet that was a while away, he said there was another in Pewter, but she had to go through a possibly Rocket-filled Viridian Forest to get there. She had her work filled to the rim; it was going to be hard.

There it is! It looked – abandoned. It was the entrance building to the Viridian Forest; the sign that said so was overgrown with tall grass and was probably never given a glance for some two years. Quietly, Ivory crept up to the door and tried to turn the handle. Surprisingly, it was unlocked.

Cautiously she walked in and shut the door behind her; it was barely lit by the sunlight that poured in through the dusty windows and plants that were outside them. A counter ran along side the left of the building, a couch on the other with a few rotting plants and a picture on the right wall. Everything was dusty, moldy from the smell of the plants, but the picture. Ivory stood in front of it.

It was a picture of the Kanto map. The glass was shattered on the ground, leaving a gap of cracked glass on the picture frame. She peered at the illustrations; it seemed that someone marked the Safari Zone in a bold black marker in the shape of an ‘X’. She cocked her head, was it the previous owner the one who damaged the picture. Most likely not…

"C’mon back to your posts already!" someone barked, she jumped and crouched down hurriedly behind the sofa.

"Right sir," someone replied, a Rocket Grunt by the sound of it, they were, what would you call them? The dogs of the Executive Rockets? All well, she didn’t care, in a bit of time; she would be over their level.

"Hurry, he’ll be here in twenty minutes!" Ivory, by instinct knew she couldn’t be here when that person arrived. It could have been Giovanni, or perhaps even a stronger force of Rockets that could come plummeting into the building. Being a rookie trainer with only two pre-evolved pokemon, she didn’t even want to imagine the kind of predicament she would find herself in if it did come to that actually happening!

She slunk out from behind the sofa and peered at the door, there was a shadow against one window, but it wasn’t looking at her because if it had, he or she wouldn’t have seen anything anyway and there wasn’t much of a purpose of looking at a dusty window now was there?

She reached the other door across from the entrance one and put her ear against it. No noise whatsoever; not even the sound of a caterpie or weedle. It was eerily silent. Too silent. Slowly, she opened the door. Again she was caught by surprise, as there were no Rockets at the other side of the building. There wasn’t even any of them here as far as she could see.

Shutting the door behind her she stepped into the forested area. Was it possible that Team Rocket captured all of the pokemon in the Viridian forest? They were mostly bugs and probably a pidgey or two. Or maybe they were just being quiet because they knew they had to.

Either way, Ivory began making her way through the forest. She came across nothing as she ran around trees, jumped over rocks and dead logs and even a small creek. The place was practically – abandoned! But still alive. The trees were still lush and green and seemingly untouched. She continued to move forward, at least until she heard voices.

"We’re being sent to Goldenrod’s underground right?" her heart jumped into her throat! Goldenrod!? They were already concentrating on Johto already? That was certainly not good…so who was heading them into this one?

"Yeah, Tyson’s taking us over soon." Tyson? Ivory pushed a few bushes away from one another, spotting a few Rockets near the exit of the Viridian Forest. Yes! She was almost home free! But she still wasn’t out of the woods yet! She needed to distract them again, she was getting edgy with all this waiting around crud and she had been wandering for at least forty minutes! If that guy was supposed to be where she came from in twenty minutes, then shouldn’t he have been here by now?

"Hey, he’s on his way!" another Rocket cried.

I have to find another way out! Ivory thought as she backed away, but she accidentally released the bushes, they bounced back and fourth, making a rustling sort of noise. Unfortunately, she realized with a gasp, it caught their attention.

"What was that?" someone asked.

"Don’t know, but I’m going to check it out." Another replied, the sound of something clicking like that of a gun being adjusted, footsteps soon followed and Ivory found herself walking away slowly. The Rocket began parting the bushes with a rifle as she ducked and began crawling away quickly.

"I think you were being paranoid there Ross," a man said with a dark chuckle.

"Sorry, didn’t know bushes moved by themselves." The man named Ross replied.

"Shut up you two, look here, found some foot prints, small shoes. There’s a kid in here…" the Rocket that was searching cried out to his comrades, Ivory bumped into a tree and looked up at the dark tree leaves. It was her only choice, now that they weren’t looking. She redoubled back around the Rockets and to the places where he had already checked. She did it so quickly, she surprised even herself.

"It went this way…" the grouchy Grunt said, his two comrades behind him. With a slight glimpse at the exit, there were no more Rockets, and then looking back at the other three, they were currently all armed and looking ahead and not behind.

And with one burst of energy…

She charged for the door, but…

It wasn’t meant to be a quiet escape.

BAM! She ran into…the door…real smooth there Ivory…

"Ugh…that wasn’t suppose to happen…pretty sure it wasn’t…" Ivory muttered, the Rockets spun around just as she opened the door.

"HEY! HALT!"

"Sorry boys! Gotta run!" Ivory cried as she ran in and shut the door behind her, she quickly ran to the other door, not caring whether someone was outside because three had already spotted her and probably were going to call for more. She didn’t want to be around when that happened!

"Hey!" Yep, there were more and currently were not properly armed. Giving her more time to run.

Run! Run! Run! Just keep running! Ivory thought as she ran down the dirt path with cries of pokemon following her.

Run faster! Run faster! Run faster! She mentally cried as the cries grew louder.

"Get her! Don’t let her get away!" Rockets cried, instantly a force from beneath her flipped her and she did a full flip before crashing down on her back. She sat up quickly.

"Hey! You don’t need to be so pushy!" Ivory shouted as she resisted rubbing her back where she hit the ground from some three feet from it. There’s going to be a bruise…I just know it…

"Sorry little missy, but you’ll just have to come with us. You were spotted-" supposedly the head Rocket said from atop of a camerupt. The red camel’s stared at her, she noticed she was at its nostrils and quickly backed away, to notice more of them surrounding her. It surprised her that they caught up to her, maybe that’s why she was blown off her feet…

"In a forest? I’m suspicious because I was in a forest?" Ivory asked with sarcasm, the Rocket fumed.

"Don’t question us!" The Rocket growled.

"Or what? You going to ask me questions? But if you must I have to warn you that if its too personal than I shant speak of it!" Ivory replied smoothly, folding her legs beneath her.

"Real wise but you have no choice, first of all you weren’t only suspicious in the forest-"

"Did I really look that sinister?" Ivory asked slyly.

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" the man roared, some of the other Rockets winced.

"Well hurry up, I’ve got places to go, people to meet, things to buy you know?"

"So do we so be quiet-"

"Really? It looked more like you were doing nothing back there. Is standing around a job?" She really shouldn’t have let her inner self take over, but she was in the mood for some kind of action after doing all that waiting and wandering. It does get boring. The head Rocket was seething by now, the other Rockets glanced down at her, even with a hint of sympathy.

"You-little-" The Rocket growled his eyes greatly narrowed. "AIM YOUR FIRE!" he suddenly cried, several machine guns were pointed down at her, she paled.

"Hey erm…wait-what about my questions?" she asked nervously.

"Questions? My dear, you won’t be alive to answer them! FI-" A loud crash sounded, and before anyone knew what was happening, the camerupt with the top Rocket standing on him was thrown to the side by a giant stone tail it seems, when the dust that erupted from under that camerupt cleared, there stood a large onix, staring down at Ivory.

"Grab on!" A voice shouted as the onix lowered its head, there she found the owner of the voice, a tan boy with spiky dark hair. He wore a green T-shirt with a brown multi-pocket vest and long dark Jeans. His eyes seemed close. He held out his hand to her. "C’mon!" She quickly grabbed his hand and he pulled her up onto the onix’s head and the pokemon reared back with a roar.

Ivory looked down at the Rockets, they looked stunned.

"We have to hurry, back to the gym Onix!" The teenage boy shouted, the pokemon nodded and quickly turned around and slithered – loudly – away. Ivory and the boy watched Team Rocket help their leader back up, the camerupt bellowed, but with one roar sent back by Onix, they made a quick retreat.

"Think they’re the best when their victims are helpless, completely cowardly when someone stronger than them comes along hence, the whole ‘no new trainer’ rule." The boy said, then he turned to Ivory. "The name’s Brock by the way, I’m the Pewter City gym leader that’s why I have pokemon. Are you a trainer?" he asked.

"Yep, my name is Ivory Koguu. I just started," He smiled.

"You have guts you know?" he said, she blushed slightly. "But anyway! DO YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND?!" She sweat-dropped. Onix turned his head, still moving, and growled.

"Oh…yeah, sorry ‘bout that…" Brock said in a lowly voice, Onix turned his head forward again. Ivory couldn’t help but laugh, since when did the pokemon scold the trainer?

"Ah, so you crept out of Pallet Town to become a secret new trainer?" It was Flint, Brock’s dad who spoke as he, Brock and Ivory sat at a table with tea set out before them.

"It’s not so much as a secret anymore." Ivory corrected, Flint chuckled.

"Yes, I suppose that would be right now that Team Rocket has discovered you? But I don’t think they would have recalled you as a trainer, did you have any pokemon out?" Flint asked.

"No,"

"Then they possibly just thought you were trespassing. But your still wanted if not before." Flint stated. Ivory nodded in understanding, the whole region of Kanto was under Team Rocket’s mercy. Maybe even Johto soon…

"They’re going after Johto too!" The two didn’t seem shocked at the abrupt news.

"No surprise, if they’re going to make themselves public they’re going to go after other regions as well. Kanto so far is most powerful of the region thus far with the Elite and the Kanto Battle Frontier and being the first to establish Pokemon gyms. Then there are our connections with the Orange islands…" Flint said as he sipped his tea.

"What are we going to do?" Brock asked, no one answered.

"Hey Brock, my doll’s head fell off!" A young girl cried as she ran up to Brock. Showing indeed a beheaded pikachu doll.

"Go and bring me my sewing kit then," Brock ordered as he took the doll, the girl nodded and scampered off.

"Your sister?" Ivory asked, Brock nodded.

"The rest are scattered about," Flint finished.

Ivory found this to be a little too true as she found herself wandering about unnoticed.

"Stop it!" a girl whined.

"Make me!" a boy replied. The fighting only got worse, Ivory became stern.

"QUIET!" The room went silent. Flint poked his head in as every child’s head turned towards Ivory. "It’s quite rude arguing with company at your house you know? So…are you like this all the time?" They vaguely nodded.

"Well then! That’s gonna have to change! You do know that Team Rocket took over Kanto right?" she asked, they nodded again. "And do you realize that’s where we live?" they nodded again, a vein throbbed. "And you’re not worried?" they shook their heads.

"Dad and Brock will protect us! And Onix and Geodude and Crobat-" a boy cried out.

"Hold on! I’m going to challenge him I can’t know what his pokemon are!" Ivory shouted, the boy shut his mouth.

"You’re going to hurt Brock’s pokemon?" a girl asked.

"Eh?" Ivory yelped.

…

…

…

"NO! WE WON’T LET YOU!" They cried as they threw themselves on Ivory, pinning her in her standing state. Ivory squirmed.

"Think of it as a fight for pride or something! You know rescuing the princess or something like that!" Ivory cried, sweat-dropping. She spotted Flint.

"Hey! Help me out here!" she cried, Flint quickly ran off.

"FFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!"

"So you want to challenge me to a pokemon battle?" Brock asked several minutes later after Brock jumped in and saved Ivory from the grasps of his sisters and brothers. It was soon after that he asked to be his girlfriend that she temporarily knocked him out. Then they took a seat at the table again and talked like human beings. Flint was nowhere to be seen.

"Why wouldn’t I? I’m a trainer now aren’t I? And in order to get stronger I have to battle gym leaders right?" Ivory asked.

"That’s true, but you do know that if you gather eight genuine gym badges you get to face off in the Indigo Plateau? But I’m sorry to say that it hasn’t been open for two years. And with the Elite gone…well, there’s hardly much to be gained from gaining badges." Brock said, she shook her head.

"That’s totally off the point. I want to become stronger so I can overpower Team Rocket! I’m sick of sitting around watching them boss others around! Something has to be done," Ivory growled. Brock looked thoughtful.

"That’s a good goal, but let’s start with something simpler. How about I give you my number on that poke’gear you have." Brock said, eyeing her chest. She blushed.

"How do you know I have a poke’gear?" she asked, as if she didn’t already know.

"Well, I have been noticing-" BAM! THUD!

"YOU ONLY NOTICED BECAUSE YOU WERE LOOKING!!!" She roared.

"Now…(Another several minutes later) why do you want to exchange numbers?" Ivory asked as she handed the poke’gear to the Pewter leader.

"So we can stay in touch, I may have been secluded in my city, but it hasn’t stopped me from staying in contact with all the other gym leaders. I don’t know all of their numbers, they call me mostly. But if there is any news whatsoever I can call you and I would give your map a bit more information but…" he stared at the blurry screen. "Who’s Marina Dani? Sounds familiar…"

"That’s what an old guy in Viridian said, but he can’t recall." Ivory replied.

"All well, I also know plenty of shortcuts I discovered when I traveled with Misty and Ash-"

"Ash?"

"Yeah, I was an old travel buddy of Ash Ketchum, haven’t you seen me on the screen with him at the Indigo Plateau?" Brock asked, she racked her brain. Then it hit her.

"Oh yeah, now I remember! You looked a bit younger back then…" she said.

"Oh? So now I look old?" Brock asked, she sweat-dropped.

"Not as old as your father!" Ivory added quickly.

"Hey!" Flint yelped as he rounded the corner, she looked at him quickly with evil eyes. He ran off again.

"Wonder what his problem is?" Brock wondered aloud as Ivory silently fumed.

"So who was Misty?"

"She’s the current Cerulean City gym leader, another one of our close friends of the trio." Brock said, "Along with her there are the three beautiful, lovely (several more names that suited the three sisters of the Cerulean gym by Brock later) and not to forget glamorous sisters! Violet! Lily and Daisy!" Brock cried, Ivory looked at the stacked cooking pots, eyeing their handles. They suddenly looked tempting…

"So you were all close friends? By any chance would you know where-"

"Ash ran off to? Sorry, dunno. All I know is that Professor Oak and his mother were the last to see him, since he took a stop at Professor Oak’s lab and took all of his pokemon and then vanished. He was seen heading for Johto." Brock said.

"Why would he go to Johto?" Ivory asked.

"The only way to know is to ask him, but Johto is just as big as Kanto, possibly a bit bigger with Cianwood City a bit off the coast of Olivine…" Brock said with thought. "Besides, you don’t want to go running into Johto with no experience facing off with Team Rocket. The reason no one has been able to leave and come into Kanto was because of them, they blocked off all main roads here and the security is so tight, you can’t even manage in a needle through any gap that could exist." Ivory looked up in thought.

"Then how would I get through Mt. Moon if I want to get to Cerulean, I was lucky you came when you did when Team Rocket caught up to me?" Ivory asked.

"Simple, I’ll distract whomever I can and let you slip through unnoticed. Heck, you might be able to grab a moon stone while you’re at it." Brock said with a shrug.

"A moon stone? The rock that came from space?" Ivory asked with slight disbelief, Brock smiled.

"If you would believe me, Ash, Misty and I actually did see that stone, and it actually does grant pokemon such as clefairy to evolve." Brock explained, Ivory’s eyes widened.

"You saw their evolution? That’s cool, I can’t wait till my pokemon evolve…" Ivory said.

"What pokemon do you have anyway?" Brock asked.

"When do we battle?" Ivory asked back with a sly grin.

"How about tomorrow morning, you can sleep over since there’s a spare room somewhere upstairs." Brock suggested. "That way my family will sleep in and won’t interrupt the battle in any way." He was obviously pointing out what happened with Ivory and his sisters and brothers.

"Point taken," Ivory said.

"But what would you like for dinner?" Brock asked.

"Anything, I’m starved!"

Time passed slowly for the anxious. So Ivory was no exception. Morning came as slow as a slugma for Ivory, but she made up the time by scurrying into the shower and out and redressing. By the time she got downstairs Brock had already prepared breakfast for two.

"Any chance I’ll win over with this?" he asked.

"Don’t ask for it so early," she answered, he laughed.

It was no later then ten did they make their way to the gym.

"Be lucky gyms are connected to the home, that way we don’t have to worry about anyone suspecting a trainer here." Brock said as he opened a giant blue door and they both walked in. It was completely dark.

"Something wrong with your electricity?" Ivory asked as he closed the door behind them.

"Nah, just didn’t need them on for quite some time so what was the point of turning them on?" Brock asked as he felt the wall for the switch probably.

"Where’s the-ow!" she stubbed her toe on something.

"Oh wait! Sorry I forgot they were automatic! Give me a minute!" He cleared his throat as Ivory rubbed her toe through her shoe. "Who dares enter the Pewter City gym?" The lights snapped on, revealing a large field of rocks, one Ivory was sitting on. She glared at him.

"Something the matter?" he asked. She shook her head with an angry sigh. "All right let’s get this started, you go on that end and I’ll go over here. I’ll explain the rules as we go," Brock said. She nodded and limped in her given direction.

"You sure you’re all right?"

"Fine fine! Perfect!" As right…as rain! She cried back.

"If you say so, but anyhow! Let’s have a two-on-two battle! Only the challenger has the right to substitute pokemon or use any items! When two of one of the opponent’s pokemon are unable to battle, the other opponent wins! Catch that?" Brock asked as they stood on opposite ends of the battlefield.

"Yeah! You go first!" Ivory shouted.

"Ladies first!" Brock shouted back with a grin. She snorted.

All right, not meaning to cheat but one of his brother’s mentioned all these Ground and Rock types so I would be best off with Kameko, he did learn Bubble not too long ago so he could knock them all out with one hit or two! But then what if he uses Crobat? No! He can’t, I’m a rookie trainer after all! "Go! Kameko!" Ivory cried as she released her turtle pokemon.

"Squirtle!" Kameko cried.

"Not a bad choice, c’mon out Geodude!" Brock shouted, releasing a small pokemon that resembled a small boulder with two strong arms. Ivory took out Dex (her poke’dex). She pointed its sensor at the pokemon called geodude.

"Geodude, the Rock/Ground pokemon." Dex spoke, in a digital kind of way. "When this pokemon sleeps deeply, it buries itself halfway into the ground. It will not awaken even if hikers step on it unwittingly. In the morning, this pokemon rolls downhill in search of food."

"Begin!"

"Use Bubble Kameko!" Ivory shouted, Kameko’s shell enlarged as she leaned back and then lunged a blast of blue bubbles towards the Boulder pokemon.

"Geodude!" The geodude made a quick dodge, missing the bubbles by an inch.

"Sorry, after training under so much pressure from the last two years, my pokemon have improved. All the gym leaders are like that now, so they’re much more difficult to defeat." Brock stated.

"No problem! I simply become stronger!" Ivory shouted back, grinning. "Use Bubble!"

"Squirt!" This time, the attack hit, but Geodude recovered and was ready to fight again. Ivory growled as she looked down at the still open Dex.

That only took more than half of its HP…and with Kameko at her current level, she better not get hit by any of Geodude’s attacks…what’s worse, the next pokemon might be Onix… "Use Bubble one more time!" Therefore I need to finish this battle quickly! Aldara won’t stand a chance! Ivory thought, Kameko launched another Bubble. Geodude fainted upon the unlucky collision.

"Return Geodude," The Boulder pokemon was sucked into its respective ball in a flash of red. Brock minimized it and as he maximized another he looked up at Ivory.

"I hope you have another good pokemon Ivory, you’ve met this one already! Go Onix!" Brock shouted, just as she thought, he was planning on using that rock snake after all.

"All right Dex, your say."

"Onix, the Rock/Ground pokemon." Dex beeped. "This pokemon has a magnet in its brain, it acts as a compass so that this pokemon does not lose direction while it is tunneling. As it grows older, its body becomes increasingly rounder and smoother."

"Begin Round 2!" Brock shouted, almost playfully. Ivory blinked, quite shocked.

"I hope you’re not trying to trick me Brock!" Ivory shouted back.

"Now why would I do that?" Brock asked as Ivory whispered something with her eyes still on Brock, whom was oblivious to her devious plan.

"You know, to be ‘Even Steven’ or so that’s how I think the saying goes." Ivory replied.

"Oh, like I have to knock out your pokemon-"

"Squirtle!" Kameko shot Onix another Bubble, still packed with power. The onix was only damaged by one third.

I really have to hurry! Brock probably already caught on to my strategy! Ivory thought miserably as she prepared to order another Bubble attack.

"Clever, trying to distract me are you Ivory, Onix! Erm…" Brock rubbed the back of his head, Onix shook his head.

"What’s the problem?" Ivory asked, not sounding concerned though.

"I just now remembered that all of Onix’s attacks will most likely knock out Kameko in one hit." Ivory fell.

"Then why didn’t you send out a weaker pokemon?" Ivory shouted, "I only just began less than a week ago!" Brock sweat-dropped.

"I know…sorry…"

"Bubble with everything you’ve got!" Ivory ordered, her luck was probably swept dry as the great pokemon fell to the ground, fainted.

"…" Brock wordlessly returned Onix to his ball.

"Critical hit! Awesome job Kameko!" Ivory cried as she ran onto the field and picked up the tiny turtle.

"Squirtle! Squirt!" Kameko cried back happily as Ivory embraced her tightly.

"I really thought that Aldara was going to be doomed there!" Ivory laughed as she released the turtle from her suffocating grip.

"Aldara?" Brock questioned as he approached her.

"My spearow," Ivory replied with no hesitation.

"Ah, that would have been quite a messy predicament. You have a lot of faith in one pokemon there Ivory." Brock said with a grin, "And as proof of my defeat – you shouldn’t brag about this in public just so you know – here is the Boulder Badge!" He took her hand and placed a silver hexagon in her hand, it shined.

"Won’t this get me in trouble if Team Rocket or someone investigates me?" Ivory asked.

"Then don’t let someone do that, but it will serve as a savior if you’re cornered in by the gym leader trainers or the leader themselves in a gym or somewhere. They’ll understand that you’re an ally. You’re the first to gain a Boulder Badge in the last two years, therefore, I congratulate you even more with a fantastic lunch before you leave!" Brock said, clasping a hand to her left shoulder. "But as for that, do you think you can treasure the moment with a little peck-"

BAM!

"AREN’T I TOO YOUNG?!" Ivory bellowed.

"The easiest way to get to Cerulean is through Mt. Moon, so I assume you will be heading that way?" Flint asked, looking at Ivory quizzically. Brock’s little brothers and sisters have long since finished eating so Ivory, Flint and Brock (whom was washing dishes as they spoke) was left in the kitchen alone.

"Yeah, Brock explained to me that security is very tight around main roads and such, so he agreed to escort me to Mt. Moon and help me through the beginning. He’ll communicate Misty to help me through the end. But in the middle, I’m alone." Ivory explained.

"No, you won’t be. As long as the poke’balls are clasped to your belt, you will never be alone. Don’t forget that," Brock said, stopping his chore at the moment.

"I’m sure either of us would be happy to tag along with you the rest of the way, but we must stay here and help our city however way we can." Flint added, looking at her.

"It’s all right, I’m used to being with pokemon and myself." Ivory stated.

"That’s the spirit."

Ring! Ring! Ring! Brock picked up a strange thing Ivory recognized as a poke’gear as well. Brock clicked on ‘Talk’ and walked out of the room.

"Must be from a gym leader, anyway, Brock told me you had a poke’gear." Flint said, Ivory nodded as she pulled it off from around her neck and laid it down.

"Yeah, but the map section is out of commission…" Ivory replied, Flint took it and fondled with it a bit.

"This won’t be easy to fix, it seems all the controls are working in top form…" Flint said, she nearly impaled him when he started taking it apart. "Whoa…no wonder it won’t work…"

"Father, there’s a problem…" Brock said as he came back inside the kitchen with the poke’gear off in his hands.

"Indeed, look at this. It seems that the parts controlling the map in this have stopped, nothing’s damaged. I say a Psychic of some sort has paralyzed these parts. But why? If someone were to get a hold of it wouldn’t they contact the numbers on this thing? If so, this person – Marina Dani – isn’t really worried about her poke’gear connections…" Flint explained as he put it back together and handed it back to Ivory.

"I’m afraid we have worse conflicts on our hands, Fuchsia is under siege." Brock said, Ivory snorted.

"Unless you were born this morning or have been living in a box your whole life, you would know the WHOLE region of Kanto IS under siege." Ivory responded back sarcastically. Brock sent her an annoyed glare.

"Be serious, the gym led by Kouga, he’s the gym leader. Is completely blockaded, no one can get in or out. Team Rocket is currently and maybe possibly searching underground for hidden exits and entrances. Also they’re ransacking resident abodes and for some reason are completely turning the Safari Zone inside out." Brock explained grimly.

It was then did Ivory remember the map back at the Viridian Forest’s entrance building, the map…there was large black ‘X’ over the Safari Zone…

"I don’t know if this will help, but when I was entering Viridian Forest, in the entrance building there was a large Kanto map framed on the wall. The glass was broken and there was a large black ‘X’ on the Safari Zone." Ivory said, Brock and Flint looked at her.

"Really?" Flint said, with a touch of shock in his tone, Ivory nodded.

"I didn’t get it, but I didn’t have much time to observe it any further since Rockets were rounding the door. Waiting for some guy named Tyson…" Ivory explained, that snapped Brock’s attention towards her.

"Tyson? Of Team Rocket? No way…I haven’t heard about him for years…" Brock said, running a hand through his spiky hair.

"Who is he? I know he’s of Team Rocket, but do you know more?" Ivory asked.

"Of course, back when we were traveling through Johto, we came across a red gyarados in the Lake of Rage. During that time Team Rocket was trying to capture it for research, the leader of the whole program was Professor Sebastion. But his second-in-command was the Team Rocket Executive Tyson." Brock answered, Ivory’s mind recalled something like that, back in Mahogany Town.

"I’ll keep an eye out for him, any pokemon you know he owns?" Ivory asked, Brock shrugged.

"People, especially Team Rocket change their pokemon every now and then like normal trainers – not that I’m contrasting them – but I battled a fearow of his…" Brock answered, Ivory nodded.

"When do we leave?" Ivory asked, seriousness clouding her words.

"As soon as I go to the museum, an employee called me earlier while we battled. Wanted me to see something about some kind of pokemon, thought you would like to see it." Brock said.

"All right, a museum! Haven’t been to one for ages!" Ivory blurted out childishly, she grinned. Brock and Flint exchanged expressions that were…a quick change in attitude. "What pokemon is it?"

"We’ll find out when we get there," Brock said, finishing up.

About ten minutes later after several good-byes from the younger brothers and sisters, Brock and Ivory left the house, both in normal clothing. Brock insisted that they did that, he pointed out that if they were cloaked, it would gain more suspicion than when they were normal everyday attire. Besides, people he knew would help them if they were being chased down by Team Rocket.

"This way," Brock said, pointing down a path.

"Everything is so quiet," Ivory pointed out, Brock smiled nervously.

"That’s why I’m kinda anxious. As soon as all this mayhem is gone, we can all walk freely without fear all over again." Brock replied, putting his hands in his pocket. Ivory looked away and at the seemly frozen houses, everything was not only quiet, but still. Everything was like it was at absolute zero.

It was creepy…

Whenever someone would say city, most people imagine a pretty busy with a lot of hustle and bustle but…this was way far from it. It should have been a ghost town.

Without realizing it, Ivory stopped as something caught her eye. It was a window, veiled by a pink curtain. She slowly noticed it was pulled over slightly, a pair of eyes looked at her from it. It was a small girl; she stared at Ivory eagerly, like she somehow knew she was a pokemon trainer just by looking at her. No one dressed as strange as one, they all wanted to have their own title, own name to make for themselves, therefore they look as unique as their inner selves would let them.

Ivory made a small wave with a big grin towards the girl, she silently gasped and whisked away. Ivory blinked, were people afraid of trainers?

Well yes, of course! Any trainer had always had an alliance with Team Rocket! A voice inside her head told her, she sighed. She forgot about that for a minute…she was probably going to be disliked by the common folk for a while…but what about afterwards? The bad never leaves, it’s easier to spread than get rid of it while good is hard to spread, but easy to take. Why couldn’t it be the other way around?

"Are you in a daze or something?" Brock asked, she snapped back to reality to discover she was quite a way from Brock.

"Sorry! Coming!" Ivory shouted back as she ran towards him.

"What was it?" Brock asked as she caught up and they began walking again.

"That house," Ivory pointed at the one with the small girl staring at her.

"Oh, little Nora’s house. She was only three when Team Rocket came, and just like her parents, she’s shy and docile, she had never been outside the house since that day two years ago." Brock explained.

"Sad…" Brock only nodded in agreement.

"Even sadder, her family is convinced that pokemon are as bad a Team Rocket now." Brock added.

That was indeed very much worse…

It made Ivory want to cry and run back to Nora’s house and beg her to love pokemon, there was simply nothing better than being with them. Maybe being in the arms of a family that loved you, but raising and training pokemon of your own. It wasn’t the same…not at all…

"You’re dazing off again," Brock chuckled.

"Sorry,"

"Nah, it’s okay. You have just begun and you’re already full of thoughts. It’s great that you’re actually thinking things through. Ash hardly did," Brock added with a grin. "He always loved battling and pokemon, when he finally faced off against the Elite Four, of course going through as many leagues as possible. And when he battled…you could tell, he was meant to be champion." Ivory watched Brock, she wondered what it felt like, to lose a close friend…she couldn’t…and when she did think of it, it too, made her depressed…

"I’ll help look for him too, and when I do find him, I’ll bring him back. It’s a promise!" Ivory declared, hitting Brock on the back with her palm.

"Ugh…you got an arm there," Brock moaned with a hint of amusement. "I thank you for your cooperation, but there isn’t much else to do but wait and hope he shows up you know?" Ivory smiled.

"What’s the point in waiting when all you’re doing is sitting at home and training your pokemon when what you really want to do is get out there and search to no ends for you pal?" Ivory asked.

"Shh…don’t talking about pokemon or anything of the sort out here," Brock warned, she sighed.

"And of course fight for your civil rights," she growled, he chuckled.

"I don’t simply train my pokemon hour to hour and day by day, I’m protecting and caring for my family. I know that would be what Ash would want me to do, instead of bringing harm upon myself for his sake, I think he would prefer me to do what I know I can do. Getting what I’m saying?" Brock asked, Ivory shrugged.

"Eventually," Ivory replied.

"When you find a travel buddy, I’m sure you’ll come to understand it." Brock said, "Also, I would like to welcome you to the Pewter City Museum!" Brock said, standing aside and revealing to Ivory, the large building that was hidden from the front of him from Ivory. She found herself staring at it. Kameko and Aldara waking up from inside their balls.