Chapter One!

[charlotte]

Soon. Very soon. The time was approaching, sooner or later they'd have to. It was inevitable, it was compulsary for her. She had to do it...she just had to. If she didn't then she'd be a failure....all her work would of been for nothing. Her hopes and her dreams, shattered. "One...more...bite!" Charlotte tried to take another bite of her chocolate bar, but couldn't! Her mouth just wouldn't open to finish it off. She had to eat it! Or else she'd regret not finishing it off and be hungry again, and Charlotte wasn't one for starvation. Licking her lips, she popped the last of the bar in and gulped it down in one. "Yes! I did it!" A smirk crossed her face as she stood up and continued walking through Viridian City.

But seriously, down to business. Soon she'd have to go to the Viridian Gym and request a Gym Battle. It was the only badge she had yet to get. Her friends were strong enough. By friends, I mean Pokemon. She thinks of them as friends, like some do. She did have real friends, she just sometimes didn't see them. Speaking of best friends, she'd have to try and get ahold of Alex sometime. Mr Russel....yes, he was her best friend. She was always fond of him, he was great to her. And she hoped she was to him too....okay now troubling thoughts were getting into her head when she had to keep it clear, for strategies.

Yes, strategies. She had to come up with more combinations to use for battles. She'd also have to try and finish off her Poketeam. Of course she thought of them as friends, but normally every trainer had six. She only had four. She had sent her Butterfree off to mate...and her Ponyta..well she let her go to a ranch, where her talents would be better needed. The two of them were very close to her heart, and even now Charlotte tears up when it's brought up. It was hard letting them go...it was even harder once they had gone. Maybe she'd try getting a fire type. She did have a fondness of Magmar's...maybe she'd try and find one of them. All adventures needed adventurers. Charlotte was onboard..she just had to find her friends and see if they'd be up for it too.

She had Squirtle...Umbreon, Pikachu and Fearow. Water, electric, dark and flying types. She'd need grass and fire. Yeah, she'd set off for a grass type and a fire type on her adventure! A sigh escaped her lips. Oh, she had her storage with Professor Oak though. She could catch more. How great that was. Professor Oak..he was always good value. And so, taking out a pencil, and her notepad - she jotted down, Pay a visit to Professor Oak. She then put it all away in her bag again. Now what would she do? Training..that seemed the best idea. Charlotte glanced around the area, trying to spot out anybody who she knew. "I wish Alex was here...or anybody I knew for that matter!" She groaned and slumped back down onto the ground.

Tag Alex, Taylor and possibly Leonardo?

[soveliss]

Viridian City, perhaps the place which Alex had been sort of forced to call his home for the last good while. Not because he had managed to lack the urge to travel too much, there wasn’t much wrong with that when he really thought about it but well…it seemed like the place he wanted to be for the time being, or at least until one of his Pokémon decided to become slightly stronger, or manage to adapt themselves to become part ground type, either of the previous options would go somewhat quite far towards being capable of helping him to advance a little through the gyms around the Kanto Region. Vermillion was a no so far, what with 50% of his Pokémon being water types. The same rule applied itself in Celadon, he was too weak in the respect of having the wrong type of Pokémon to fight off grass types. That left Fuchsia, Saffron, Cinnabar or Viridian; the place he was in right now. Rather ironically Cinnabar was the one place where he stood a much stronger chance, yet happened to be the one overwater, which made it a lot harder to reach. And then he didn’t like the idea of Psychics or Poisons at all, even if he stood a slightly better chance against Poison, what with having a Psyduck with him. Bah it was too far away for him to go without there being anything else which he would be able to achieve in the process. Maybe he should just wait here for a while, think about things, or maybe try and move on soon enough. Who knew, maybe Esk, Kathy and Zarph might be able to work without him having to rely on the waters he carried around?

It was quite a nice day when he really thought about it, the sun was pretty high in the sky and such. ”Munch”

[/color] Alex looked down to see Zarph, his Munchlax looking up at him, while in the process of chewing on an empty can. He knelt down pulling the can out of the now disappointed looking Pokémon’s mouth with a chuckle. ”You don’t each that – you see it ain’t too good for you, someone just forgot to put it in a bin.”[/color] He grinned at the Pokémon, who was only bothering to show a slight level of understanding to what was being taught to him. For a moment Alex wondered whether Zarph intended on rushing back over to the can to begin chewing again, but the thought was removed the moment the Munchlax decided to hug him, grappling itself onto one leg, and refusing to let go. ”Hey, Zarph, just let go buddy, eh, we’ve been though this a couple of hundred times.”[/color] They had, but most of the time Zarph had refused to let go for well over five minutes, sometimes nearing ten.

At this point anything which would make Zarph let go, and while Alex didn’t completely get something like that, he did get something which would be useful. Someone he knew. ”HEY, CHARLOTTE!”[/color] He yelled out, in a call which made Zarph loosen his grip over Alex’s leg to look around. He could recognise the girl from a mile off, or so he thought, what with her fairly distinctive greenish hair. Yes, it was certainly her he could see, and maybe she would be capable of reminding Zarph how he was actually meant to behave in a public area.
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[charlotte]

Just when she was about to pull out something else to eat, Charlotte heard a shout which made her shriek and jump on the spot. "Bunnies have taken over the world!" She screamed, before looking around and spotting the one person she hoped to see. "ALEEEX!! Dashing as fast as she could, Charlotte ran over to Alex and leaped on him, entangling him in her arms. "Alex, what're you doing here? Why? How're you? And Zarph! Heyyy! Oh my god, this is great. My wish came true..aha" A large smile came over her face.

Twirling away from Alex, she stopped a short distance away and let out a huge sigh. "Have you heard all these rumours? Lurkings in the dark. Scary, isn't it? I can't believe Officer Jenny hasn't done anything yet. This mystery needs to be solved!" Charlotte took a Pokéball from her belt, opening it up in her palm. Then, there was a red flash and a bolt of energy that shot down to the ground. Another flash of light, though this one was a more brighter, whiter one. Sat there, pushing his left ear down over his eye, was Pikachu. "Pikaa" He yawned quietly and walked over to Zarph, with a smile on his face.

"So Alex..how's your journey going?"

[soveliss]

Well one thing was quite certain in Alex’s mind, and that was the fairly obvious fact that Charlotte had certainly managed to hear his call out as she came bounding towards him, jumping onto him in such a way which nearly caused him to fall backwards due to the momentum. He was quite glad that he didn’t too, what with the small problem of the fairly solid ground behind him, and the fact that Zarph would be certain to do a Zarph, and jump onto him, pinning him down there for quite some time. It was the only problem with the Munchlax, he didn’t really realise when he was doing something like that, and it would take some effort from Alex to stop him from showing the level of affection.

”I kinda been around here for a while, you know, just trying to work out where I would be best going next.”

[/color] He grinned fairly sheepishly to her question, knowing he lacked a considerable answer. Maybe he would be better moving on to another city, somewhere he would stand a chance of gaining another badge, or catching a new Pokémon or two. ”How about you then, what are you doing back here?”[/color]

”Wish, wow I guess I must be fairly lucky then, huh?”[/color] God, even he wasn’t 100% sure what he was talking about there, it was just mindless babble erupting from his mouth in place of anything which might of at any point been something which he really understood.

”Ah, yeah, I heard a little bit, kind interesting though too, don’t you think? I mean I’ve only heard a couple of bits and pieces, but yeah, someone needs to get to the bottom of it, don’t they?”[/color] That said, with only a couple of meagre pieces of information ever managed to reach Alex, he didn’t know too much on his own, maybe he would need to see if Charlotte planned on passing any more information his way in the meantime. She hopefully would too, actually allow for Alex to be able to catch up with what had been occurring during that time.

Zarph had looked across and been distracted by the Pikachu, giving Alex the chance to pull himself out of the Pokémon’s grip, so that he could properly talk to and address Charlotte. ”We where just thinking about where we should be going soon, like where to go for another gym badge, eh Zarph?”[/color] ”Munchlax”[/color] The Pokémon had a grin on his face when he answered, rather clearly quite happy to be able to contribute an answer in the way which he knew, even if it didn’t really make complete logical sense simply to be answering with the only sound you could make. ”How about you then, I guess you must have been busy.”[/color]
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[bloobell]

Moments ago, Leonardo has received a message from Team Rocket’s new boss to a close eye on the recent development of trainers in the Kanto & Johto Region. But for the time being, Leon decided to investigate on specific trainers of Kanto. He was given a small profile on three trainers who each have obtained either a Bulbasaur, a Charmander, and a Squirtel. Coincidentally these three trainers may have already been comrades with one another, which means that Leon won’t have too much trouble finding all three of them. But it would ease his job even more if they were all traveling together. However, he wasn’t that lucky.

Upon arriving to Viridian City, he was informed that this was possibly the place where the owner of Squirtel, ‘Charlotte Spencer’ is located. Before entering the city, he released Umbreon out of her Pokeball. When she appeared through a quick flash, she immediately began stretching. Umbreon then began to moan, probably because of sun that practically blinded her. After a minute or two of adjusting, she turned towards her trainer and waited patiently for his commands. Leon took out a piece of paper, describing the appearances of the girl he targeted. He really hoped for a picture rather than a word description, but he’ll just have to make do.

"Help me search for this girl… With long blue hair, blue irises and light skin." Both Leon and Umbreon gave a look of disappointment, the fact that this assignment had no photo of his target and that the description wasn’t specific. The stood in a moment of silence before Leon sighed. He walked up to the nearest trash can, crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash. ‘Guess we’ll just have to do this the hard way then.’ Leon pondered on some basic strategies he learned for dealing these sort of situations. From what he could last recall that this ‘Charlotte’ girl is a trainer… Most likely seeking a gym badge by defeated the Gym leader of this city.

Soon her master started walking away from the trash, she could tell he was really focused on finding this girl. He trailed after he trainer in silence, taking the time to observe the city and it’s people. The dark type Pokemon was amazed by how optimistic the streets were, people and Pokemon were socializing away like there were no tomorrow. Stores that omitted sweet aroma made her want to travel over to that area, but feared that if she strayed she’ll lose site of her master… And then, out of the corner of her vision she saw something with an unnatural ocean-blue locks. She stopped to get a clearer observation. The person she saw was probably the person Leon is looking for. And the girl was walking the other way. Umbreon immediately bit and pulled on Leon’s pants to get his attention.

"I’m pretty the Gym is where the girl is h-…" As soon as Leon felt that slight tuck, he looked down and back to where his Umbreon was. But then she ran off somewhere, while still urging him to follow. Leon ran in order to follow her, though he wasn’t absolutely sure one where she’s taking him. He had a feeling it might be that Umbreon found the girl. After a while his chase began to ease, form Umbreon slowed to a stop. She now stared at two people, the girl she saw earlier and a boy.

They hid in the alley close to where the two trainers were conversing with one another. Leon that lean over Umbreon to check on who she was following. When he saw the girl and boy, Leon bent down and patted Umbreon on the head. He then took out an Oran Berry and tossed it in the air for Umbreon to catch. It was a simple ritual between the two of them, seeing that Umbreon enjoyed jumping in the air and loved the Berries Leon fed her. While Leon’s eyes were still on the two trainers, Umbreon jumped into the air in order to snatch her Berry. Instead, her jaw snapped a second too early and ended up shoving the fruit in the direction of the two trainers.

Leon watch the fruit being flung awkwardly towards a Munchlax, knowing full well that the Berry is long gone. But then he watched his Umbreon chase after her Berry. Another heavy sigh escaped his lips as he got up, and walked calmly after his Umbreon. ‘There goes my cover…’ He approached his targets steadily, feeling thankful that he switched into his civilian clothing before entering the city.

[charlotte]

Charlotte gasped and took a dramatic step backwards. Always the actress. "Me? Isn't it obvious?! I'm here to challenge the Viridian Gym Leader! Then it's off to the Elite Four. I'm going to be a Pokémon Master, the Champion, Believe it!" Charlotte grinned and took out another chocolate bar from her pocket, stripping it down and beginning to munch on it. Oh how eager she was to battle, to beat the Gym Leader and finally prove how powerful she and her friends were.

Charlotte nodded along as he started talking about the rumours. "Yup, maybe we should investigate? Fearows been practicing and I think I can fly on him now" All these rumours, all the stories - it would be a real adventure if they went on it. "You don't suppose it's Jigglypuff do you? Evil Jigglypuff...wanting world domination!" She joked, smirking. How about you then? I guess you must have been busy Charlotte shrugged. She hadn't done much over the last few days, just usual training. "Just training for the Viridian Gym. So, your going off travelling soon? Hm..Hey..If you don't mind staying a while. Maybe later on I'll try the Gym, and see if the Leaders in. If I get the badge, we could set off travelling together. How's that sound?"

Just then, Pikachu's ears pricked up and looking down, Charlotte saw that he was on all fours, growling towards the alley. "Piikaa..!" Confused, Charlotte took a step forward, bending down to Pikachu's height. "What is it Pikachu?" Then she saw it, the berry that came their way. With an eyebrow raised, Charlotte's eyes darted to look at the alley. Then somebody stepped out, two somebodies. An Umbreon and ..what she guessed, it's trainer. "Who are you?" Charlotte asked, keeping a serious face. Alright, so he was slightly cute, but she had to stay serious..ish. "A friend of yours Alex?"

[soveliss]

Alex listened, and smiled like he always did. So Charlotte planned on beating the Elite Four soon eh? God he was seriously behind the girl what with his Pokémon choice beginning to mean that he was running out of places he could go where he stood at a distinct status advantage over whoever he was facing off against. Perhaps he needed a couple of alternate Pokémon, say a grass type or something like that. Something which was a little bit off what he normally went around with, maybe he could borrow one from someplace. Just something to give him the ability to overcome his ‘all eggs in one basket’ team. He laughed slightly in a friendly way when she finished. ”And I’ll be right behind you someday, just you wait.”

[/color] He smiled after saying that, before falling quite again as Charlotte began to speak again.

He had to admit, he did feel slightly jealous of the fact that Charlotte was so far ahead of him, and apparently was able to fly on one of her Pokémon, Fearow. Of course he knew that once Charmander evolved into Charizard he would be able to mimic the same factor, but Esk was still the same obedient Esk he had picked up from Professor Oak all that time ago. Maybe a lot of it was him, since the only one of his Pokémon who had bothered to evolve was Kathy, maybe he was keeping them all that way. That or they where all waiting for something dramatic to happen which would evolve them, maybe an adventure would do them all some good, like Charlotte wanted to suggest. ”Yeah, have a look around at least, see what we find, what we can uncover.”[/color] It was certainly something which Alex thought would be an interesting thing to do, and a good way to spend his time.

"Just training for the Viridian Gym. So, your going off travelling soon? Hm..Hey..If you don't mind staying a while. Maybe later on I'll try the Gym, and see if the Leaders in. If I get the badge, we could set off travelling together. How's that sound?" ”Yeah, I’d like that, Zarph probably would too, and it might keep him off jumping on me at every opportunity which he gets.”[/color] Aside from that he did genuinely want to go adventuring with Charlotte, she would be more than likely to help him out a lot more than he could himself.

At that moment, Alex looked across to see an Umbreon appearing from an alleyway, followed by someone else. It took Alex aback a little bit, not least because he couldn’t quite understand why someone would want to spend time in an alley unless they didn’t particularly want to be seen at all. Charlotte wanted to know if he knew the guy, so Alex answered as quickly as possible. ”I don’t know him, least I don’t think I do.”[/color] He was pretty sure that was the right answer on his part, it was the one which he knew would be the most accurate anyway, considering he really had no idea who the person was from the top of his head.
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[TAYLOR HAMLYN]

After trailing through the many isles of Viridian City's Pokemart, Taylor was holding a rather full looking plastic basket with two arms, Bulbasaur was holding a rather large shopping list with his vines and the two were standing at the checkout - however, the cashier seemed more interested in talking to her friend next to her.

"Did you hear? They were saying that there were about 10 Pokemon missing from Cinnabar Island's Pokemon centere! No signs of forced entry and the Pokemon's Pokeballs were all still there." The cashier gossiped. Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Well, of course there was no signs of forced entry - the the centre is so small, they could've just climbed through the air vents" she whispered to Bulbasaur.
"Bulbasaur." the little grass Pokemon nodded his head in agreement.

Having finished swiping through all the items, the cashier faced Taylor, smiling.
"That will be 560.80 pokedollars please." Digging around in her backpack for her purse, Taylor handed the cashier the money and with Bulbasaur's help, Taylor left to go to the Pokemon Centre, to organise and pack the all new supplies.

Sighing, Taylor smiled sadly - with only two badges, she had come back through from Cerulean City to come and train near the Pokemon League, in order to prepare her team for her third and forth gym battles. She was having a fantastic time, but there were always those persisting rumors about trouble being caused throughout Kanto - but of course, the Police force throughout Kanto had stressed to the public that everything was under control.

Taylor had always thought Kanto was under control - just not from the Police. During her rather depressing reflection, Bulbasaur had nudged her.
"Bulba, Bulbasaur" Bulbasaur's head was pointing to a few meters ahead of them.

There stood Charlotte and Alex, with a stranger with an Umbreon. Turning to Bulbasaur, Taylor smiled.
"Shall we?"
"Bulbasaur" Bulbasaur said happily.

Stopping for a moment, Taylor took a few large breaths before yelling.
"Hey Guys!!!!" catching the attention of the three, before walking to them as fast as she could carrying all the heavy shopping.

"Hey, how is everyone - long time, no see!"

[bloobell]

He could help but to notice the huge sensation of regret when approaching his targets. This may be the most disgraceful act he had made in the name of Team Rocket. Though he hoped that none of his ‘comrades’ were nearby to witness this. But seeing that he had already revealed himself towards these individuals, all he can do is roll along with the scene. There is no turning back now, he had to think of something excusable beside chasing his irresponsible Umbreon. After all, he did just appeared from behind an alley.

He stopped about a good foot away from the two trainers, and then looked away. While the two trainers ponder among themselves, and then some other person arriving, he quickly cooked up a plan that could deceive them without having to strain himself. Leon then began to loosen his tense shoulders, and motioned his right hand into the air and began to rub the back of his head. Then he displayed a slight smirk, and laughed nervously. "Ahaha… Hey! Sorry, about my Umbreon." Meanwhile the dark type Pokemon manage to snatch the fruit away from the other Pokemons and started devouring it.

"I swear, I raised her better than to run off…" The moment Umbreon looked up at her master, she immediately started to shiver at his ‘gentle smile’. Obviously this had all been act, but the fact that she knew that she was going to be punished later was beyond intimidating. Umbreon knew she had to play along as well, seeing that it was her fault that they were in this mess (but then again, Leon could have stayed behind). She began to wag her tail and spoke sweetly towards the other Pokemon. "Umbreee~"

[soveliss]

OOC: Sorry for short/late responce

Alex’s attention was drawn away from the current conversation and the new Pokémon by another arrival, Taylor. It was quite odd, but none the less nice to see both of them at the same time, something which didn’t seem like it would happen very often. He didn’t even know how Taylor had been getting on recently, how many badges she had managed to generate or anything. He wanted to find out too, turning so that he would be able to face and talk to her without much difficulty. ”Hey, how you been then?” He said back, while Zarph nudged closer to his leg, attempting to re-grab back onto it, repeating previous shows of affection.

The other boy who had appeared, the one with the Umbreon had spoken, claiming something about having raised his Pokémon better than that. Alex simply shrugged, smiling in a carefree manner back. ”Hey it’s OK, sure looks like a nice creature too anyway.” In terms of nature Alex wasn’t naturally angry or anything like that, which was more or less the leading factor when it came to fuelling his response. Other than that he had nothing, nothing else to say or do.