‘This is kind of awkward…’ Larry thought to himself as he walked along the streets of Viridian City next to Matthias, ‘I can’t really talk to him, but I’m pretty damn curious why or how he got here…’ Larry was still injured and exhausted. However, without a Pokeball he’d been forced to simply walk, the bruises on his body still pulsed slightly with pain.

  “Umm…” At his questioning tone, Patrat's head turned down from its perched view on its trainer's shoulder to him on the street, “I’ve got to ask, why are you guys in Viridian City?”

  “Matthias fans went rabid!” Patrat explained dramatically, “Like the idiot he is, he took a sneaky photo of you two in the Center, the one that went viral on Chatter!” It threw its arms wide as it retold the story in a dramatic tone, all while keeping its eyes trained on everything nearby, “With that newfound fame, he promised all of them that he’d interview the girl in the picture! Only to miss out on the interview at every single opportunity until his fans went crazy!”

  Larry furrowed his brow at the retelling, “Did you just call him an idio-”

  “‘You’re fake!’, ‘Guess he never saw her again and simply made it all up’, ‘Maybe it was all generated by a Porygon!’, and many similar hate comments were left on his posts until he couldn’t take it anymore!” Patrat's eyes glinted as its voice began to rise theatrically, “When he heard that the girl was leaving, he stormed to the landing pad in hopes of at least obtaining a way to contact the girl!” It balled a fist dramatically, as its tone turned downtrodden, “But to no avail…She simply left on her flight, leaving the idiot boy to fend for himself with the promises he made to his fans.”

  “Are you telling the Larvitar about the thing? I see the way you’re playing it up.” Matt squinted at his Patrat suspiciously, “C’mon, man, that's not nice.”

  “You’re the idiot who promised his followers the world!” Patrat pointed at Matt in accusation, “Stop making promises a loner like you can’t keep!”

  Matt massaged the bridge of his nose in annoyance, “You know I can’t understand you like this, but somehow I know exactly what you’re saying…”

  “I see…” Larry answered, unsure how to act around the hyperactive Normal-Type, “But how exactly did that lead to him coming here?”

  Patrat tapped him on the side of the head again, “Since that Valerie girl never wrote him back, his fans somehow got the idea that he could simply follow her to Viridian to get that interview. So he talked with his family, convinced them to allow him to make the journey, packed his bags, and finally made his way over here! Which is why we’re here now!”

  “You’re telling me you flew over here? Just for an interview?” Larry felt sceptical at the insinuation of what the Patrat was saying.

  “No!” It shook its head, “We walked! Matt didn’t have enough money to fly, so we traveled down Route 22 to Viridian City!” Patrat turned on Matt's shoulder, reaching for the zipper on Matthias's backpack. It pulled out a smartphone, unlocking the device and pulling up a video before turning the device to Larry, “He even made an entire travel series about it, check it!”

  Looking up at the screen, Larry could already see and hear a small recording of Matthias, “H-Hey, guys! Welcome to my MewTube channel! In this ser-”

  ‘First Chatter and now MewTube?’ Larry was in slightly over his head.

  “Oi! Don’t show him that!” Already slightly red in the face, Matthias snatched the phones from his grinning Pokemon friend, “I swear, you love to see me suffer…”

  “I think I get it, Patrat.” The two certainly had a far more energetic relationship than Valerie and he, but they didn’t seem bad for each other.

  “I’m surprised you know so much about this, though,” Larry mused, trying to keep the conversation going, “I don’t think I’ve ever used a phone.” ‘...at least in this life…’

  “Know a thing?” Patrat scoffed, having jumped down from Matthias's shoulder to walk along with Larry, “I’m basically his manager with how much I do for him! Anyway,” It inspected his injuries, “you said you almost got kidnapped? Explain! I want the details!”

  …

  After relaying exactly what went down to Patrat, Larry and the still unconscious Sybil were handed over to a Nurse at the Pokemon Center.

  Without their Pokeballs, they would have to be healed outside of the iconic healing machines until Valerie could arrive, with Larry receiving a spray of potion and Sybil being inspected for injuries in a Sci-Fi-looking scanner.

  “Where are Larry and Sybil?!” Which turned out to be not that long one way or another, as Valerie stormed into the Center's examination room not more than a few minutes after they arrived. Considering how exhausted Valeire looked, she had seemingly sprinted here the entire way from her class at Trainer School.

  “Larry!” She practically lunged at her Pokemon, who was relaxing on an examination table. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re alright! What the hell happened to you?!”

  “U-Umm…” Matthias, sitting on a seat next to the examination table, raised a hand, “I think, I-Uh, might be able to help with that…” He was back to his usual stuttery tone of voice.

  “Yeah, we will!” Patrat nodded proudly, walking over to Larry and patting him on the shoulder.

  Valerie, turning to the boy, furrowed her brow before recognition dawned on her, “Matthew!”

  He shook his head with a raised hand, “N-Not what I’m called.”

  …

  After Matthias cleared up his presence in Viridian, Valerie handed her Pokeballs over to the Nurse and finally allowed both Larry and Sybil to be properly looked over and healed while in their Pokeballs.

  As it turned out, Larry was already basically healed over by the Potion he’d received, and Sybil had simply exhausted itself using its Future Sight too often consecutively, so a quick-healing was all that was required. Larry still appreciated the warm, calming feeling of the Healing Machine's energies reinvigorating him.

  Valerie chatted with Matthias out back of the Center, in the training courts, as a Nurse brought her her Pokeballs. They were sitting down on a large outdoor picnic table, as Valerie talked to Matthias, “I can’t believe you managed to travel down Route 22 with only your one Normal-Type Pokemon. Isn’t that Route absolutely pestered with Mankey?”

  “Your Pokemon have been fully healed and should be back in shape!”

  “Oh! Thank you!” Valerie took her Pokeballs from the tray and released Larry and Sybil next to Matt's Patrat again, Sybil requiring a short wake-up nudge from Larry to be coaxed from her restful slumber.

  “W-Well…You know, uhm…It's pretty peaceful around this time of year on that Route. P-Patrat isn’t much of a fighter anyway, he-Ow! Hey!”

  His Pokemon once again assaulted the boy as he cried out, “Not a fighter?! I’ll show you!”

  Valerie quickly shut down the developing chaos by enveloping her Pokemon in a hug, which both reciprocated, “Ok, first up, I’m so glad you’re both alright!”

  “So now that Larry and Sybil are back, what exactly happened?” She turned towards Matthias, “Matthias already told me something bad happened to you, and his Patrat also nodded along to that, but what happened?”

  Larry was ready to once again channel his charade powers, acting out the entire encounter for Valerie until Patrat took a step forward. Matthias' hand rose, “Uh- I-I, uh, I think Patrat can help with that.”

  “You can?” Larry furrowed his nonexistent brow as he turned to Patrat.

  Patrat smiled smugly as he was handed Matthias’s phone. He unlocked it with practiced ease before opening a translator app of some kind. Larry watched as Patrat tapped away on the screen for a short while before pressing a speaker icon on the top left of the textbox, causing a robotic female voice to resonate from the phone's speakers, “The two were almost kidnapped.”

  ‘He also knows how to write!’ Larry thought with wide eyes.

  “Oh, you know how to write? That’s amazi-” Valerie shared the same thought as Larry, but quickly pivoted, “Wait, kidnapped?! Is that true?!” She turned to Larry for confirmation, only to receive a nod from both her Pokemon in return, “WHAT?!”

  ‘I’m definitely getting scolded, aren’t I?’

  …

  Retelling what he remembered, Larry started when Sybil snuck out of the backyard of the Trainer School and stopped when Matthias came onto the scene. With Patrat helpfully interpreting the entire thing to the humans using the translator app from Matthias’s phone, much to its own annoyance.

  Valerie's face was conflicted by the end of the story, “Larry, you know, I’m happy you’re thinking of me, but I would be more than happy to go take a tour around the city with you guys. Not every day needs to be a day for training.”

  Both Larry and Sybil agreed, with Larry apologizing with a bow, “I know now, we’re sorry!”

  She tapped her foot impatiently, “Also, please don’t go into back alleys unless you have to. That was probably the choice that messed you up the most in that story.”

  Larry and Sybil both nodded back, ‘Yeah, that one was pretty stupid…’

  Valerie accepted their apology, “Next up, what happened back there, Sybil? I know from research I did online that Natu and Xatu receive visions of the future, but is that what happened when you were out exploring normal?”

  The Natu shook its body side-to-side in disagreement, “No, they are not. Future Visions for Natu are, while able to be invoked, most of the time involuntary. I can only assume that my most recent growth in Psychic power due to training has outgrown my control over my future sight.” She looked uncomfortable talking about the topic, “I…I would rather not get into the details, but suffice to say I received more than I could handle and lost control…”

  Patrat grumbled at the infodump a slight bit, “Making me write all this out…”

  “I see…” Valerie nodded thoughtfully, “I didn’t know that the lessons had that effect. I’m sorry, Sybil.”

  “Yeah,” Larry agreed, “next time you should tell us if you need help. I don’t know if we can help you in some way, but Valerie and I are always there to support you.”

  “Thank you.” Sybil bowed at that.

  Valerie continued, “Next up, I should say congratulations on getting Crunch down, but I'm far more concerned about who that woman was. You said the woman had a Pokeball and was about to try and catch you?” Larry nodded to the question.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “T-That shouldn’t be possible,” Matthias mentioned, eliciting a nod from Patrat, “P-Pokeballs don’t work on Pokemon already registered to another Pokeball, th-they’d simply bounce off.”

  To that, Larry could only shrug, he couldn’t be sure of her intentions, and his anime knowledge of Pokemon was far weaker than his game knowledge, so he couldn’t be sure if this was some Pokeball technology he hadn’t remembered. There is only one thing he could be sure about, “The woman was definitely part of Team Rocket.”

  The reaction when Patrat translated that statement was far different from what Larry imagined, as the only thing he received was furrowed brows from Valerie, “Team Rocket? What's that?”

  ‘Crap, not the reaction I was expecting!’ Larry quickly had to pivot so not too many questions would be asked, “Uhh, that’s who she said she works for!”

  Matthias saved him, “I-I think I’ve heard of them online before…They’re a c-crime group who steal Pokemon and sell them for profit.”

  “What?!” Valerie blurted out as she looked between all of them, “Isn’t that pretty serious?! Should we report this to the police?!”

  “P-Probably? I, uh, I don’t know…” Matthias struggled with his words, “W-When she ran past me, uh-um, I still saw what she looked like. Uh…We could probably get like, um, a police sketch done or something?”

  Larry cut in again, “It was the woman who worked at the reception of the Gym!” Sybil nodded in agreement to Larry's accusation, probably remembering the woman from her vision.

  After the translation, Valerie thought back to when she made her appointment for the gym, “That woman? Are you sure?”

  Another nod by Larry dispelled Valerie's suspicions, “She had a weird attitude, but I didn’t think anything of it at the moment…Especially that she's part of some criminal organization…Should we report her?”

  “V-Valerie s-s-shouldn’t we think about this more calmly?” Matthias suggested in a panic, “We- uh, we don’t have any proof of anything. W-What do we even report?”

  Patrat spoke up too, using its text-to-speech software to answer, “There aren't any security cameras in alleyways, the woman wouldn’t have tried to kidnap Pokemon if there were. We have absolutely no proof of anything except for one Pokemon's word.”

  “You’re both right, but…” Balling up her hands into fists in annoyance, Valerie spoke in frustration, her head hanging low, “Then what am I supposed to do? Someone just tried to steal my Pokemon…Should I just let them run free?”

  Before Matt could give out his advice, Patrat spoke up using his phone, “Stay close together. Stay watchful. Larvitar are rare Pokemon people want to get their hands on. Preferably keep them in their PokeBalls.”

  “Patrat are common in Unova, but they aren’t native to Kanto.” He wrote out with a conflicted expression, “Not everyone who stares can keep their hands to themselves.” It turned its eyes to Matthias, “I know that from experience.”

  A quiet overcame the group at Patrat's heavy words. Valerie spoke up again first, “...Alright…I won't let you rot away in your PokeBalls unless you guys are ok with it, but I’ll keep you guys close from now on.”

  Larry saw the girl's downtrodden expression and couldn’t help but try and inspire some confidence in her, “Valerie, we’ll become so strong, nobody will dare try and kidnap us again.” After the translation went through, Valerie smiled at her Pokemon.

  “Sure thing. I think I can get behind that.”

  That improved the mood, and everyone exchanged a look with each other at the prospect. Finally, Matthias couldn’t hold himself in anymore, blurting out what had been on his mind the whole time, “S-So, uh, can I finally get that interview?”

  …

  Valerie

  “Rasp!” Matthias cleared his throat and adjusted the creases in his hoodie before sitting down, “Valerie Riston, it's so nice to meet you again.” Matthias' entire tone had changed since the minute or two it had taken for him to set up a tripod to place his phone into and start the recording, with Patrat sitting behind the camera like a movie director. The stuttering mess of a teenager was left behind, and he seemingly managed to build himself an entirely new personality for his online videos.

  He held out his hand in greeting, and Valerie took it. Taking the hint, she also assumed a less personal tone, “Thank you, it's nice to finally be able to talk.”

  ‘What is this? He sounds like a news reporter. All about his online image?’

  In the back of Valerie's mind, her thoughts raced with the consequences of her Pokemon’s most recent troubles, Team Rocket. Valerie had just found out that her Pokemon had barely skirted past being stolen away. How was she supposed to do an interview at a time like this?

  “It very much is. Miss Riston, you’ve been the subject of much online discourse. Most of which was started by the appearance of your starter Pokemon, a Larvitar.” Matthias pointed at the bench next to Valerie, where Larry sat, perpetual scowl on his face as usual, Larry’s eyelinered eyes meeting hers at the insinuation, ‘Ahh, he’s just the cutest, isn’t he?’

  ‘And they wanted him? For what? What would they have done to them if they were successful…’

  “From what I’ve heard, you aren’t without blame for my newfound fame.” Valerie countered, “You were the person who uploaded the first photo of Larry, my Larvitar, to Chatter.”

  “Th-Mphm! Correct.” Matthias confirmed, saving himself quickly with a cough, “What a shock I had when I saw a Larvitar in the Pokemon Center that day.”

  “Imagine my shock when I realized what had dropped into my arms.” Valerie agreed playfully, remembering the day she found Larry.

  “Before we jump in, let's start at the beginning,” Matt fixed the grip on his small microphone, “Tell our new viewers about yourself.”

  ‘They’re criminals, they wouldn’t treat him well, that is for sure.’

  “Valerie Riston, fourteen years old. Daughter of a Ranger stationed on Route 28, I was interested in my father's work, and he allowed me to accompany him on a ‘Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work’ Day.”

  ‘If Matthias hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t have even known about it. Hell, I only would’ve found out once I left the school and couldn’t find them in the backyard!’

  “Interesting, so you plan to become a ranger?” Matt mused.

  “I did before, but not anymore.” She shook her head, “I never had many aspirations in my childhood, but my father has always been someone I looked up to. He…He was a very talented trainer who decided to dedicate himself to his local community after his journey. I guess I admired that.” Valerie rubbed her sweaty palms into her lap.

  ‘Crap, I haven’t even told Dad… and he just told me to take care yesterday…’

  “What are your plans then?”

  “I’m going on my journey this year.” She spoke resolutely.

  ‘Should I even tell Mom about this? I probably have to.’

  Matt’s eyebrows rose, “Oh? Quite the surprise. A lot of people online assumed the opposite, given how little information was available about you.”

  Valerie gave a sheepish smile, “I guess you could say I found myself enjoying Pokemon fights.”

  ‘What about the Gym…’

  Smiling, Matt answered back, “And…Larry agrees with that?”

  “He was the one to propose it, actually.” She countered, “I was originally against it, but came around to it when Larry confessed his own interest in getting a trainer.” Her mind wandered back to the caves of Mt. Silver, the flurry of emotions she felt when she ran into that sandstorm, “...We…Nevermind…”

  Matt raised a brow, but continued, “Good to hear. Let’s get into the story. What exactly happened to let you catch a Larvitar?”

  “Well, it all happened due to an ongoing census. My father took me out on a drive to count the local population of Pokemon.”

  “I see, so I presume you went to travel down Route 28 to Mt. Silver?”

  ‘Can I even still attend the Gym Challenge if an employee at the Gym turns out to be part of a crime group?’

  “Correct, when we came up on the entrance of Mt. Silver, the ground began to shake and an earthquake rocked the area.”

  Matt nodded along to her story, but didn’t interrupt.

  “A gigantic rockslide rocketed the area. We tried to flee to the treeline but were cut off by falling boulders, and even our car was crushed. We only managed to make it over due to my father's Sandslash, which managed to redirect some of the boulders.”

  ‘Is the Gym connected? What if Giovanni is?’

  Matt's eyes opened in surprise, “I didn’t expect you to be so close to the danger. Ace Trainers have explored and posted pictures of the place after everything went down, showing the destruction near the entrance. It is quite amazing that you and your father were there when everything went down and survived.”

  Valerie smiled, “That isn’t the end, though. Once at the treeline, we heard the cry of a Pokemon that was leaving the cave, and my father, thinking quickly, made his Sandslash bury us in the ground, with him protecting me underneath him.”

  “Quick thinking.” Matt nodded along, “What happened next?”

  ‘What if they steal him from me while inside the Gym? I wouldn’t be able to do anything…’

  Straightening her posture, Valerie continued, “Buried under my father, the Pokemon left the cave, and the heat in the area was turned up.”

  “A Fire-Type?” Matt questioned.

  Valerie nodded, “I didn’t know this at the time, since I was buried under my dad, but it was apparently a very powerful Fire-Type.”

  “A Moltres?!” Matt guessed to a blank-faced Valerie, “Uhm… You see, some folks online theorized about what Fire-Type could’ve caused the burns surrounding the entrance of Mt. Silver, and some people even guessed that it might be Moltres, due to sightings around Mt. Silver shortly after the event, but I assumed nobody actually believed those theories…” He quickly explained himself, “There was a lot of discourse online about the pictures of the cave entrance of Mt. Silver and the state it was left in.”

  “With two local Fire-Types in the Rapidash and Magmortar line, most people assumed that one of those would be responsible…” Matt addressed her with a serious look, “A lot of people's theories had some of the most outrageous answers possible.”

  ‘I don’t even want to imagine what they would do to Larry if they got their hands on him…’

  “Um…Sorry. I couldn’t say what Pokemon it was. I couldn’t see it.” Valerie smiled back, the NDA she signed about Moltres's presence still firmly in the back of her mind.

  “I’m sorry, then.” Matt apologized, “It seems online theories did go a bit haywire.”

  She shook her head, “It’s alright. Then let me continue, the heat burned my dad's back, leaving him with second-degree burns across his entire back.”

  “Oh-, I’m sorry!” Matt quickly bowed to her, “I didn’t know it was that serious!”

  ‘I’m going to have to read up on them later.’

  Waving off his apology, Valerie continued, “It's alright, my Dad made it out alive in the end, and it's obvious you didn’t know. Anyway, the Pokemon left quickly thereafter, allowing me to treat my father using his instructions.”

  “Arceus…How is he currently?” Matt asked worriedly.

  ‘Considering Matt knew something, there must have been something about them online…’

  “He is still in physical therapy, but when I left for Viridian City, he made a show of finally being able to sit up again.”

  “I wish him the best for his continued recovery then.” Matt bowed to her, Patrat behind the phone mimicking his movement.

  “Thank you. Anyway, I was supposed to apply a compress to some of the burns, but we’d run out of water.” She continued her explanation, “My father told me to go look for a nearby stream slightly north of where we were, so I ventured up there with his Sandslash.”

  “When I came upon the river and filled up some bottles with water, I saw a Pokemon being carried down the small river.” Valerie paused, eyeing Larry next to her, “I was planning on leaving the Pokemon on the banks of the river, but when I found out that the Pokemon wasn’t breathing, I caught it in a Pokeball and brought it with me so that it could be saved at the Center.“

  Larry’s words rushed through her mind again, ‘We’ll become so strong, nobody will dare try and kidnap us again.’

  “I only found out later, but what I’d saved at the time was a Larvitar.” She finished her story, “And that's how I managed to get a Larvitar as my first Pokemon.” She turned to Larry next to her with a smile, “Right?”

  His usually scowling face morphed into a smile as he nodded back at her, “Vi-Tar!”

  Her racing thoughts stilled at the obvious conclusion, ‘I’m going to keep my Pokemon safe, no matter what. I think time to make use of those connections I made at Mt. Silver.’

  …

  T-Thanks for the interview…I'll-uh, I’ll be going back to my room to edit and upload this…” Matt, back to his usual self, bowed nervously, “T-Thank you so much!”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Valerie waved him off, “I should be saying sorry that it took so long.”

  “Uhm…Alright, bye!” Patrat on his shoulder, waved back at them as they made their way back into the Center.

  Turning back towards them, Valerie had an unsure expression on her face, “So, it's nice to have you guys back with me safe and sound, but what happened is going to change our plans, I think.”

  She raised a finger, “Do we even still attend the Gym Challenge here in Viridian City now that we know that someone in the Gym is working with a criminal organization? We don’t know how deep the corruption goes. Worst case, the entire Gym is in on it.”

  Larry cringed, ‘Yeah, I think that might be the case…’

  Valerie looked downtrodden, “I wanted to just go on a normal journey, why’d I have to uncover this entire mess…Whose going to believe a teenager when they accuse someone of being a criminal…”

  Larry cringed again, harder, ‘They believed a ten-year-old in the games…’

  She shook her head, “Is Mom even going to believe this mess? Honestly, I’d rather not get her involved in this mess…I’ll be forced to tell her…”

  “So?” Valerie turned to her Pokemon, “Do we still try and challenge the Gym?”