“Valerie!” Maxie cheered as she pointed a thumb over her shoulder at his mother, “Thank you for finally calling back. She was beginning to get queasy back there.”

  Larry’s mother sniffed annoyedly behind her, “Tar, Tyrani.” “No, I wasn’t.”

  “Yeah, sorry. We were shopping.” Valerie explained as she pulled Stella into frame, “Here! This is Stella, she’s traveling with Matt and me. Say hi to Maxie!”

  “Hi…” She spoke meekly, hugging close to Valerie, “...I’m Stella…”

  “Oh my goodness,” Maxie raved, “She’s so cuuute~! Just like a doll!”

  Stella pouts at the woman's attitude, hugging herself closer to his trainer. Only when she looks at her more closely during the video call does she notice who she was talking to, “Maxie, have we met before?”

  “Hm?” Now Maxie also closed in on her screen, “Hmm…We might have…I’m a ranger after all.”

  “A ranger…” Stella was also lost in thought now, before the realization hit her, “Ah! You’re the ranger who asked us to evacuate our home!”

  “Ah! Yes!” Finally, the ranger also regained her memory of the girl, “You’re the daughter of Aurora, aren’t you?”

  His mother cut through their conversation brusquely, “Tyrani-tar?” “Where is Larry?”

  “Sorry!” Valerie apologized profusely, turning her camera down to Larry sitting next to her on a tree stump. He waved at her sheepishly, “He’s right here, I didn’t notice that he wasn’t in frame. Say hi, Larry!”

  “Hiii Mom!” He waves happily, “Hope you’re doing well!”

  “Larry,” His mother finally smiled, “I am doing well.”

  “Now that everyone knows who is here,” Valerie corralled everyone back to the usual, “Let's get the most important things out of the way. First, do you know eachother?”

  “After the whole mess at Mt. Silver, I helped her and her mom with the evacuation of their house.” Maxie explained, “With us not knowing fully what was going down in Mt. Silver, we were forced to evacuate everyone who lived near it to the League Reception Town to protect them, her and her Mom included.“

  “Yeah, we lived on Route 28.” Stella confirmed, “Then we had to live in a hotel.”

  “That’s where we met, right?” Valerie's suspicion was confirmed by a nod from Stella, “My dad told me once that someone lived on Route 28. I see…It's good to know you got out of there safely, right?”

  The contestant girl didn’t look that happy, though, “I didn’t get to go home before beginning my journey…”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry, but it had to be done.” The ranger apologized, “You lived on the mountainside, your entire house could’ve been taken out if another landslide or something similar happened.”

  “I know…” She agreed sadly, “It’s still annoying…”

  “Well, we did have some more seismic activity recently, but it wasn’t as big as before, so the League is thinking of opening Route 28 back up in the future.” Maxie reassured her, “Ace’s and other Elite Trainers are asking us to do so, and the increased ranger presence here is largely useless without any danger to accompany it.”

  She turned to Larry’s mother, “Clearly, the Pokemon here aren’t that violent that we rangers need to deal with them.”

  “If they don’t behave. I’ll make them behave.” His mother grunted behind Maxie.

  “No idea what you just said.” Maxie answered quickly, his mother glaring at her in annoyance, “I just hope you’ll be ok with trainers finding their way back into Mt. Silver, Tyranitar.”

  His mother didn’t answer, she looked unsure herself, “...”

  “I think Larry’s mom will be ok,” Valerie reassured Maxie, “She doesn’t look like the type to care.”

  ‘She sure isn’t,’ Larry noted, ‘But something changed since I left. Even I’m noticing that she isn’t acting the same…’

  “Wait…With Mt. Silver opening back up, does that mean we’ll be able to go back and meet with Larry’s mom?!”

  “Well, it’ll be a long while until then, you know? Bureaucracy is a long-winded process.”

  “Aww…”

  “And don’t forget you’ll need to be able to teleport unless you wanna walk the whole way back.” The ranger reminded her.

  “You’re right…” Valerie deflated.

  “Anyway, let’s move on.” Maxie switched topics, “Have you already gone to the gym?”

  “You actually called me just before we were going to go there!” Perking back up, his trainer began explaining, “I hope I’ll get a spot quickly. Since I got so lucky with Viridian Gym, I have no idea if I’ll get an early spot this time around.”

  “You’re a bigshot trainer, I doubt the Pewter City Gym will take their time giving you a challenge.”

  “Really?” She questioned, “A bigshot?”

  The ranger could only sigh, “You took part in a sting operation of the League, you know? Why wouldn’t they at least give you an early spot?”

  “Ok, that wasn’t planned!” Valerie explained hurriedly, “Champion Lance forced me into that!”

  “Even more reason to treat you well, right?” She shrugged.

  “I guess…”

  “Well, good luck regardless.” She pressed her thumbs, “I doubt you’ll have many issues with how you managed to beat Giovanni.”

  Stella cut in, disbelief in her voice, “I still can’t believe you did all that stuff during your Gym Battle…”

  The group continued to chat, and Valerie went on to talk about what went down in Viridian Forest. Saving Stella from the ravenous and violent beast of Caterpie, which had found its way into her hair. She told her about Mori and about how they tried to fix his bad behavior.

  She went on about the Beedrill attack Mori caused, and how they got away from it.

  “Yeah, you wouldn’t believe the sound of them! It was crazy!” Valerie raved, “It felt like the air around us was humming with how many of them chased us.”

  “How can you talk about it so calmly?!” Stella cried out, “I thought I was gonna die!”

  Maxie also turned more serious, “Stella is right. You really shouldn’t mess with Beedrill if you can, they’re some of the nastiest and most territorial Bug-Types in the entirety of the Indigo Region.”

  “Well, if someone's Pokémon didn’t feel the need to kick one of their young away, we wouldn’t have gotten into this mess.” Valerie huffed with her arms crossed, acting up her annoyance. When she saw the guilty look on Stella's face, she quickly pivoted, “It was a nice change of pace, though. The forest is beautiful, but it was also quite a boring travel location. Surprisingly so.”

  The ranger on the other side of the line could only nod, “Bug-Types are territorial, but they also know when to pick their fights. Most young trainers simply don’t know where to set the boundary and end up irritating a ton of Pokemon on their way through the forest. A single bug might be ok to fight, but once you’ve kicked a Beedrill's nest, you'd better find a place to stake out in.”

  “Yeah,” Both Valerie and Stella agreed with silent nods, “If it wasn’t for Larry and Sybil, we would’ve been skewered by the Beedrill. They had the genius idea of creating a sandstorm to trap the Beedrill in, which Sybil finally blew away using a Tailwind.”

  Larry’s mother and Maxie both seemed genuinely impressed, “Whoa! Now isn’t that something, back at your age, I definitely wasn’t thinking up move combinations like that!”

  His trainer quickly denied her commendations, “Oh! No-no! It wasn’t my idea, I just told the two to make a distraction!”

  “Seriously?” Maxie seemed unsure of who to praise now, “Who came up with it then?”

  Thinking back on that day, Larry raised a hand, “I think that was me, right?”

  “Yup, that was all you and Sybil!” Valerie nodded proudly.

  “Seriously?!” The ranger almost jumped out of her seat before catching herself, her tone softening as she reevaluted Larry in her mind, “You’re a real smart Pokemon, aren’t you?”

  Larry nodded proudly, Valerie putting a hand on his head with a proud look. Behind Maxie, he watched a soft smile spread on his mother's mouth, her heavy tail swishing from side to side at the praises heaped upon her kid.

  …

  Afterwards, they went on to talk about Stella’s chance encounter with her second Pokemon, Dusty. Asking Stella to bring the little guy out of his Pokeball to show her.

  “Aww, it’s cute!” Maxie began nerding out, “You don’t see Scatterbugs much around these parts, since they usually compete with the more varied Caterpie and Weedles for the same food, but they’re absolutely adorable!”

  “He’s a boy,” Stella revealed, holding him up closer to the camera, which Dusty looked at curiously, “He’s been really nice so far, I really like him…”

  “Well, of course. Just make sure you don’t go too much on his nerves, those little guys are indiscriminate with the poison they spew.”

  The two could only smile knowingly, “Yeah, we found out.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  ‘Look at the lil’ guy,’ Larry smiled at the adorable little caterpillar in Stella's palm. Dusty’s eyes were transfixed on the screen of Valerie’s phone, looking at the colors moving on the screen with absolutely no understanding of what was going on, ‘Not a single thought in his head.’

  ‘And they wanted to compete in the contest with this dude?’ He thought incredulously, ‘He’s basically lying down on top of the phone at this point, licking the screen. I don’t think he understands what it does besides showing pretty colors.’

  Its head slowly turned, and everyone took notice as the Scatterbug slowly snaked its way towards Larry. In return, he gave it a sheepish wave of the arm, “Uhh…Hi?”

  “Sca?” The Bug-Type let out a long breath as it took its time to inspect him, “Haaaaa~...”

  Larry shrank back from the little one's piercing gaze, the experience reminded him of a time when he was younger and a toddler in front of him in the grocery store simply wouldn’t stop staring him down, no matter how much he averted his gaze.

  The humans had long continued chatting, but now Larry was stuck with Scatterbug, slowly inching off Stella's hand and onto his lap. He was suddenly forced to babysit the literal baby bug, which sat in his lap with an adorable whine, “Baaahhh~!”

  “Yeah-yeah…” He nodded along, holding the Bug-Type in place tenderly, one of his arms petting the top of its head with an extra bit of care.

  “Scattah!”

  “I hear ya…Whatever you’re trying to say…” Larry awkwardly averted his eyes. No clear words could be deciphered from the Bug-Types incoherent babbles. ‘I guess it's a good thing that it's even babbling, it means it wants to say something, right? Same thing with babies, right?”

  The discussion changed quickly after that, and then the topic of Team Rocket reared its ugly head once again, “Did you guys hear what became of Team Rocket yet?”

  “No? I didn’t look at the news yet,” Valerie's interest was piqued by the topic, “What happened to them?”

  “Well, apparently, the Team Rocket members who got arrested in the Viridian City Gym are in the process of interrogation.” Maxie explained, “The only problem is, they don’t seem to know a single useful thing about Team Rocket itself.”

  “Seriously?” Stella spoke.

  “Exactly my thoughts! The League's investigation so far has shown that most of these troupes work entirely separate from the real Team Rocket, they basically don’t know anything about the real group that Giovanni apparently fled to. They’re all just grunts.”

  “Nothing?” Everyone seemed skeptical of Maxie's words.

  “Nothing! It sounds stupid, I know, but apparently, the only way they communicated with their headquarters was via a computer system. From the way the reports were written about it, it seems like that system’s gonna be their last resort to get a hint on Giovanni’s whereabouts.”

  She sighed, “Though I doubt they’d be stupid enough to leave traces of themselves behind like that if they’re smart enough to have an escape plan and not give their employees any info.”

  “I just hope the League stays vigilant,” Valerie looked disappointed by the news, “I doubt Viridian City is the only place Team Rocket had a base.”

  “Yeah,” Maxie nodded, “Now is the time for the League to take action, it's also obvious that Team Rocket is going to lay low, whatever they had planned for the future is gonna change.”

  ‘Yeahhh…I doubt Giovanni expected any of this to happen…’ Larry thought to himself derisively, ‘In the Pokemon Lore, he always acted like he was one step ahead of the League, and it seems like that wasn’t really the case this time around.’

  ‘Wait…’ In a roundabout way, he and Valerie were the catalysts of what had happened to Giovanni, he had urged Valerie to contact Professor Oak after all, which had ended up getting Lance involved, which had forced the League's hand into trying to arrest the Gym Leader.

  ‘Giovanni definitely knows who we are now, he knows who I am, and who Valerie is…’ Somehow, that idea should’ve upset him, but it simply didn’t, ‘I guess I’m just not that concerned about it anymore…We did already wipe the floor with him after all…’

  Shaking his head, Larry stroked Dusty in his lap with renewed vigor, ‘Whatever! It doesn’t matter, what matters right now is keeping myself and the people I care about safe and sound!’

  His extensive knowledge of Pokemon assured him that he’d be fine, that they’d be fine. Giovanni was an evil man, a real villain, and Larry really wasn’t underestimating the man, but he also knew he wasn’t the vindictive type to chase after and hunt down a little child for a perceived slight. They had bigger fish to fry, so to speak, ‘That reminds me…Speaking of Team Rocket?’

  In a spot of silence, Larry spoke up on the call, “Mom, how are you doing?”

  “I’m feeling good.” She growled back with an appreciative nod.

  “Good to know,” He couldn’t be happier to hear his mother was actually healing well, “Everyone else also doing fine? What about that new friend of yours you talked about last time? The Purple Pokemon?”

  She perked up at the mention, but stifled her enthusiasm, “He’s…ok…”

  “You said he doesn’t talk much,” Larry began, trying to squeeze more information out of his mother, “Did you manage to get him to open up to you?”

  “Yeah.” She confirmed tersely, “But…he’s hurt. He doesn’t trust anyone.”

  ‘Of course,’ Larry thought to himself, ‘Mewtwo just found out his only source of comfort and the guy he entrusted his life with was trying to use him.’

  “Well, that doesn’t sound good…” He picked Dusty up and deposited the little Bug-Type in Valerie's lap next to him, “You should try and get him to trust you! Only that way can you become really good friends, right?”

  “I want to.” His mother agreed, “But…how do I…do that?”

  He needed to find the right words, “If you make the effort to gain his trust, then he’ll surely give to you after a while. He’s very cat-like, after all.”

  Her head quirked to the side in confusion, “What's a cat?”

  A sigh escaped Larry, “Haaaa…Doesn’t matter.”

  …

  The exterior of the Pewter City Gym was far more striking than that of the Gym in Viridian City, which didn’t have any particular design. In comparison, Pewter Cities Gym had a single, giant block of rock as its front facade, with the word ‘Gym’ chiseled into one corner of the slab. It made for a far more imposing look. Larry could only guess how they managed to get the slab here and onto the front of the building.

  Stepping through the automatic doors in the middle of the giant slab, Valerie and Stella entered an unusually similar Gym reception to the previous ones. Some parts of the gym building's design seemed to be standardized.

  They didn’t seem to be the only ones currently looking to challenge the Gym, as an older man was corralling a group of kids while trying to talk to the receptionist, ‘No, wait…Isn’t that Brock?’

  Approaching the man, Valerie made herself known as the man fought to keep control of all of the children around him, “Excuse me? Hello?”

  “Ah, hello.” When the old man and his children and the receptionist he was talking to turned to face Valerie, Larry finally realized the truth of the matter, “What are you here for?”

  ‘Wow, this guy has some strong genes…’ Even the children turned to what their father looked at, and Larry saw that they all looked scarily similar to each other, ‘If he isn’t their dad, then I must be seeing double- triple- no, what’s the numbering word for ten? Whatever, they all look exactly the same! This must be Brock's dad then?’

  “The Gym?” Valerie asked, unsurely, “I’m here for an appointment for the Gym Challenge.”

  “I see…” The man turned to his children with a smile, “I’d be happy to give you an appointment, but the Pewter City Gym is undergoing a Gym Leader Change right now, it might take some time until we can accommodate new challengers.”

  He was amazed how similar the man looked to his children, ‘Jeez, they really do look exactly the same, the only difference is he has a few more wrinkles and greying hair. Does that mean Brock’s already left with Ash?’

  “I see…” Valerie seemed unsure of how to proceed when one of the young children trotted up to her, hugging himself around her waist before looking up at her.

  “...What’s your name?” He pointed at her with a finger.

  “Oh, I’m Valerie. Valerie Riston.” She shook the young boy's hand, “What’s yours?”

  “I’m Tommy!” He smiled before pointing behind himself at one of his sisters and brothers, “And that’s Cindy!”

  “Nice to meet you, Tommy!”

  The receptionist cut their conversation short, “I’m sorry to cut in, but you said your name was Valerie Riston?”

  His trainer nodded.

  “The same Valerie Riston who helped uncover Team Rocket in Viridian City?” Even the new Gym Leader was now looking between the two in confusion.

  He scratched at his cheek as he turned to his receptionist, “I think I’m somewhat out of the loop here. Have I missed something?”

  “Come over here, you idiot!” She pulled the old man in close and began whispering into his ear, presumably giving him the run-down the rest of the League had received on Valerie in his absence.

  ‘What was his name again?’ Larry wonders inside his Pokeball. The two secretly confer with each other, ‘Brock is obvious, but his father's name? I’m just not sure…’

  His children stop and trot over towards Valerie in the meantime, “Hey! Show us your Pokemon!”

  “I can do that.” Valerie nods, picking his ball from her belt, “Come out, Larry!”

  Appearing in a flash of light, Larry is immediately mobbed by a gang of Rock-Type-obsessed children, “Whoa!”

  “A Larvitar!”

  “Cuute~!”

  “Larvitar?!”

  The Gym Leader's authoritative voice stops Larry from being ripped to pieces by a mob of little children, “Kids! Give him a bit of space!”

  “Ok…”

  “Sorry…”

  “Ok, Daad~...”

  “Sorry about that, kid.” He comes up to corral his children back over to himself, “I’ve been caught up about what happened to you, and frankly, I’m shocked at what the League put you through. That’s a hard way to get you to help out.”

  ‘Someone from the League apologizing?’ Larry felt a bit of incongruence at the honest attitude of the man.

  “Let me introduce myself. I’m Flint, current Gym Leader of Pewter City, for a total of around two or so hours so far.”

  “My son Brock was managing the Gym in my absence and just decided to follow his dreams of becoming a Pokemon caretaker and breeder, leaving with a promising new trainer.” He explained, “It's been a hectic few hours since I’ve returned, getting acquainted with my children after some time and picking the Gym up where I left it last. I haven’t been around here in a year or so.”

  “I see…” Valerie seemed content with his answer, “It's nice to meet you, Flint.”

  Stella seemed less content, speaking with venom from behind Valeire, “So you left Brock to manage your Gym and his siblings?”

  Flint nodded to her, “I did indeed do that. I hoped that I’d make it big as a Pokemon Master in the League Conference, only to get knocked out quite early. It was a foolish endeavour in the end…”

  “Whatever the case, I’m back as the Gym Leader of Pewter City now, and I’d be happy to host you, Miss Riston.”

  ‘Certainly a different atmosphere around here than in Viridan City's Gym.’ Larry noted idly as he looked up at Flint, ‘He definitely is still finding his footing back into his job. How long did he say he’s been back at the job? Two hours?’

  “First though,” Flint cuts himself short, kneeling down in front of him, “What a wonderful little Rock-Type you have here. I see you have a Larvitar.”

  “I do!” Valerie nodded, “Say hi to Larry!”

  “Larry…” His brows flicked down in confusion, “Certainly a strange name for a Larvitar.”

  He continued to inspect him closely before nodding, “You certainly take good care of this little one, kid. He’s as healthy as he could be. That’s not easy.”

  “Thanks!” Valerie also knelt down on the other side of him, “It’s been a hard time taking care of him, but I think it's been worth it so far!”

  ‘What am I, a luxury car?’ Larry quipped internally.

  “Say, kid. You said you wanted to take this Gym’s Gym Challenge, correct?” His children had knelt down next to them, intently watching the two talk and staring down at Larry.

  “I need the Boulder Badge if I want to become a Pokemon Champion.” Valerie explained, “A Gym Battle against you is what I need.”

  “It’ll be some time until I can actually take on challengers.” Flint answered with a hand on his chin, “I still need to get reacquainted with all of the Gyms Pokemon and the Gym itself, but I feel inclined to make an exception for someone like you.”

  “Seriously?” Valerie almost jumped in surprise, “What's the exception?”

  He rose quickly, with Valerie following suit, and ripped his jacket off his body, revealing his muscular body underneath, before pointing a finger at Valerie challengingly, “Valerie Riston, your Gym Challenge starts now!”

  “W-What?!”

  “Prepare yourself for the next seven days, harden your resolve, and strengthen your team. Then come back here to challenge me for your Gym Battle!”

  “H-Huh?! Is that something you can do?!” Stella and Valerie were absolutely shocked by his challenge.

  “I am the Gym Leader of Pewter City. I am allowed to give you any challenge I find fair.” He crossed his arms. “Do you accept?”

  “Of course!” Valerie seemed game, more than happy to accept the challenge, “I’ll give you the best first Gym Fight of your return!”

  “Now that's something I love to hear, kid!” He pumped his fist as his kids once again all hugged themselves close to him.