บท 20: Ch 20. Missing pokemon
Waking up early in the morning, the first thing Ares noticed was the absence of his Eevee and the presence of an Umbreon. The sleek black fur shimmered in the early morning sun, the chest of the Umbreon rising and falling with every breath, its head firmly planted on Ares's lap as it remained asleep. Connecting the dots, Ares gently caressed Umbreon over the head, a bit as a congratulation for Umbreon for having decided his final form. Umbreon woke up, a happy look in his eyes, as well as a bit of guilt. Glancing at the bag, Umbreon's thoughts were crystal clear. Ares already surmised what Umbreon was worried about and reassured him immediately.
"Don't worry. If it made you stronger then all the better. I have no other use for it either way."
Umbreon nodded, a slight smile on his face as he decided to nap for a little while longer. Evolving was a taxing process, as the body still needed to adjust a bit to the newfound strenght it had acquired.
"I'm glad you figured things out. You worried us."
Ares muttered, gently stroking Umbreon's back one more time. It had been clear to all of his pokemon that Umbreon had been pondering about his evolution, having remained awake more than just a few nights. It was a relief to see he had finally decided.
Excavating himself from the mountain of pokemon sleeping on and around him, Ares refreshed himself and began to prepare for dinner. Today he had decided to make pancakes as a sort of celebratory dish for Umbreon. The smell soon wafted around the area, the sweet scent of fresh berries, honey and pancake syrup making his pokemon salivate in their dreams.
His Pokemon gradually woke up to the scent of breakfast, each stumbling out of the tent in a almost drunken manner, drooling slightly as they were attracted by the mouth watering scent of freshly baked goodness. Looking around in search for the source, they saw Ares setting down plate after plate of pancakes on the table. Their stomachs were already rumbling at the rare sight of the sweet delight.
"Good morning. Food is almost ready, so help me set the table."
Lucario and Clefairy put out the table, eating utensils and bowls, while Umbreon went to fetch some water. The rest of his pokemon were slowly waking up at their own pace, their eyes still drowsy. They all softly congratulated Umbreon on his evolution, each showing it in their own way. A simple nod or ruffle of the head. From above, Pidgeotto flapped his wings at Umbreon excitedly, though he looked away in embarassment when Umbreon looked at him. It wouldn't do for his pride if Umbreon saw him acting that way. It was unbecoming.
In the meantime Ares let his pokedex scan his Umbreon, as something felt a little off. Seeing the difference of the indicated values shown, Ares was happily surprised. His Umbreon was a bit bigger than normal, if only by a few inches. The color saturation of his fur was also a lot deeper, as the yellow stripes stood out a lot more between the pitch black fur. A perfect example of a more than healthy Umbreon.
'Well nothing wrong with that'
Having that thought, Ares joined his pokemon at breakfast. It was a long time for him too since he had eaten any pancakes, as he was savoring every bite he took. It truly was delicious.
.
.
.
After enjoying breakfast and having cleared up his camping spot, Ares and his pokemon moved on towards Vermillion city. Lucario and Umbreon looked around at the forest and saw the city, which was visible in the distance. It was big, even from afar. The streets from a distance appeared like they were infested by hundreds of thousands of Durants, as they were densely crowded by people.
The amount of people walking by on the path towards the city had increased as well, though there weren't any trainers to challenge him for a battle, which was quite relaxing to be honest. He had spent the past few days alone with his pokemon and he didn't mind if it had lasted a little longer. Talking to people was mentally exhausting for him after all.
Walking into the city, Ares was moving along the streets in search of the pokemon center to give his pokemon a check up and see if he could find another quest he could accept. While he wasn't short on money, the extra bits he earned always had their uses, as did the experience he gained through the activity.
After a few hours of looking around, he had thought the pokemon center would be easy to find, always standing out in every place he had been to up until now, but he was wrong.
To say the city was big was an understatement. It was bigger than Cerulean city, with buildings packed close to each other. Small and big shops were spread out all over the city, making it a bustling community. This also made it harder to really look for his destination, as his view had become limited from the huge crowd in front of him.
Looking to the side, the sea came into view, the sunlight sparkling brightly along its surface. The scenery of the sea was brilliant, especiallly when a cruise ship was starting to dock at the harbor, casting a long shadow over the dock.
Having still not found the pokemon center, Ares decided to take out his phone to look in the guide. It should have navigation on it, which could lead him to the pokemon center from wherever he was in the city.
Looking on his Rotom phone, Ares read about a few of the appealing must see things there were in Vermilion City. There was the gym, which he was certainly going to for his gym challenge, then there was the Cerise Laboratory, which he was planning to visit, as the professor that was building it was available for the next couple of days. He was looking forward to have a short chat with the professor, just to get a general idea of what his subject of research was. Aside from those places, there were a few other places he could visit, like the department store.
The Pokemon fan club was a popular place as well, though it was more like a place to socialize with other people, talking about their love for pokemon. For now, he would have to do with finding a quest to familiarize himself with the city a bit more, before he would start to sightsee.
Following the directions on the Rotom phone, he soon spotted the familiar rooftop with a illuminating pokeball on top of it. Seeing the pokemon center, which was close to the pokemon gym, he could see a lot of trainers carrying wounded pokemon, wondering what could've happened to them, aside from an unfortunate encounter in the wild.
Pondering about it, Ares entered the pokemon center and saw a lot more worried trainers sitting on the side. Some were pacing around, while others were softly crying as they looked in worry at the lights of the operating room. The mood was horrible, with the whole pokemon center filled with desperate trainers. Seems like everyone here had encountered the same kind of trouble.
Walking up to Nurse Joy himself to ask about it, he was made aware of the strength of the gym leader in this city. Apparently all these worried trainers had challenged Lt. Surge to a gym battle and lost miserably. Their pokemons were left in a horrible state. Not enough to kill them, but they did need immediate care to avoid any lasting injuries.
'Guess he must be pretty strong.'
After a few minutes, Ares's pokemon were given back after their check up and he walked up to the quest board. As with every city, the quest board was filled with requests of all kinds. Hanging there, were pretty simple quests. The majority had already been torn of the board, as shown by the pieces on torn paper still remaining on the board. The more diffucult quests weren't available, most likely due to strong trainers already taking those early in the morning.
Taking a rather simple one, Ares went back to the reception to get the quest registered.
"A missing pokemon quest is it? No problem, it has been registered. Here is the information on the missing pokemon, its habbits and the last known location. The owner of the pokemon has already started searching again. Their last known location near the Vermillion city square, should you want to ask them a few questions regarding the request."
Nurse Joy handed him the information and went back to her work. There were injured pokemon to look after, so she couldn't tarry. Every second she was occupied with something else could mean a world of difference for a poor pokemon.
Giving the information a quick look over, the missing pokemon in question was a young Pichu. It liked to run around in the city center to play with other pokemon and was last seen yesterday morning. The pecularities of this Pichu was that one of its ears was spiky instead of pointy, as well as a different coloring, being a shiny Pichu.
'It shouldn't be that hard to differentiate between other Pichu then. Let's start with the city center.'
Taking out his pokemon that would be of help for this quest, Ares let Pigeotto look from above, while Umbreon and Lucario helped search the city. As Clefairy was a rather rare pokemon, Ares didn't take any chances of it getting lost, or worse... stolen.
Then he had Pichu riding on his shoulder, looking out from eye level to look above the crowd. If she spotted the Pichu, she could walk up to it and talk to it. Having a fellow Pichu talk with it might be a lot more reassuring than a strange unknown pokemon, especially if they towered over the Pichu in question.
Like that Ares and his pokemon became more familiar with the city and all its hidden alleys. Still, they didn't find any clue of the missing Pichu. Ares had asked around, but no one had seen the little Pichu, don't even mention one with spiky ears.
"Haah, this is harder than it seems, right partner?"
Lucario nodded in agreement while Umbreon was laying stretched out on the ground. The once easy looking quest had become a lot harder. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, the needle being the Pichu and the haystack Vermillion city.
Pidgeotto returned at this time, though unlike the unrewarding effort Ares had, Pidgeotto bore good news. It circled above Ares, clearly a sign for him to follow it.
"Let's go."
It didn't have to be said twice as Lucario and Umbreon got back on their feet and began to follow Pidgeotto together with Ares. Clicking on the wheels beneath his shoes, he rushed through the crowd with impeccable speed.
Their furtive chase was noticed by the crowd, who looked strangely after the trainer and his pokemon. The whole run took less than ten minutes as they ended up near an abandoned warehouse. It was far from the city center, being deserted and isolated from the rest of the public. A bit in the distance, a big ship had just moored. It was a transport ship, one that was unloading a bit of cargo to be transported.
It was odd for a Pichu to get all the way here, especially since the location it had been reported missing was too far away from here. Even if it followed another pokemon here, it would be difficult for Pichu, as they didn't have the stamina to get this far. This truly was odd.
"If it really is here, why would it even come here? I don't see any other pokemon nearby it could have followed. This whole situation is beginning to smell."
Not doubting Pidgeotto's lead, Ares looked around the warehouse first, but what he heard inside made him slow down. It should've been abandoned, but there were clearly people inside. Going towards one of the broken windows, Ares peeked inside and spotted something he really didn't want to see.
Standing near the back wall, near a rather big loading truck, were multiple cages filled with pokemon of varying types. From their state, Ares could surmise that they weren't in good shape. He highly doubted that what was going on here was normal.
Coming up from one of the rooms, the people responsible walked in front of the cages with a clipboard in hand. The glaring red logo on their black uniforms could be spotted from afar and Ares already knew he had to do something about this, even if it was calling the police.
Inside the warehouse, holding multiple cages of stolen pokemon, was Team Rocket.
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