Episode 1: In the Beginning

The storm raged, lighting viciously pounded the undying waves and rain pelted the deck of the small boat. two young men stood at the end, one gripping his side as his brown hair plastered over his face. The other, with lighter brown hair stood erect facing the group of men opposite. The assumed leader's voice was muffled under the torrent of rain, but the two grunts positioned on either side heard him and raised their hands, 9mm guns poised in each. 6 shots went off simultaneously from both guns. The two men at the edge of the boat looked impassive, as if aware that this is how their lives would end. They were blown over board, hitting the water and sinking to the depths as quietly as they once stood, only leaving a strip of blood in the water and a small puddle on the deck of the boat.  

The room was bright- the walls a blinding and perfect, unblemished, white. The table in the far corner a pale gray and the chairs in the room and additional furniture in the room a matching gray. Zak did not take the time to look around. He was not even vaguely curious, all he felt were the bandages around his stomach and sharp pain in his right calf. He hobbled quickly to the door opposite the bed where he just lay, the covers carelessly thrown on the floor. He felt a breeze across his entire body as he tried to walk out the pain and walk quickly down the bright staircase. The room he just entered was not much different from the one he just left. A large square table sat between the staircase he just descended from and another on the other side of the wall. Book shelves lined the walls, so the white was less visible, and a simple counter was placed near the doorway on the other side of the large room. His first instinct was to go through the door, but Zak saw another young man about his age, and looked bewildered by the sight. A lone vase with a single wilting flower was being held by the boy, sniffing not just the flower but also the vase and table as he set the vase back in the exact spot where it once was. "Leif" was stitched in white letters onto the loose fitting black uniform. He was as tall as Zak, but with smoother and darker hair, brushed neatly out of his eyes. He had a very confused look on his face.

"Everything smells of vanilla..." were his only words before dropping to his knees and sniffing the floor.

Zak's first thought was that he must be in some sort of mental asylum, but he could not recall anything being wrong with him. He started for the door, but at his second step, a lighthearted women, with brown hair pulled up in a sort of fancy bun, walked in and was about to announce her name before noticing Zak. She paused for a minute, as if searching for the words to say, then looked away quickly and said:

"Zak, please, put some clothes on." He did not recognize his name, however, but looked around quickly for another person in the room. The strange "Leif" kid was still there, but no one new was in the room. He looked down and immediately realized he was the naked one, and stuttered. His voice was scratchy from disuse and none of the words came out right.

"WhRe Arr miI clOTHes?"

"Upstairs in the large closet," The woman said quickly, still averting her eyes, "Leif, you, too. Go upstairs to your closet and put on something more comfortable, then when you both come back down, I'll inform you of the issue at hand." Leif spun on his heel and walked airily to his stairs, but instead he descended the steps, rather than walking up, like Zak's room.

This time, Zak looked a little more carefully around his room. A single book shelf was immediately facing him to his left, a TV facing the bed was positioned to his right, and against the right wall, were two sliding doors, apparently leading to a closet. He noticed a similar outfit Leif was wearing sitting on a gray chest at the foot of his small bed. He picked it up and looked at it. White letters spelling out "ZAK" were positioned near the top right of the button-down shirt. He put the clothes down and walked to the closet. As he opened it up, a small purple rat ran past and sprinted downstairs. Even more confused, but pushing it out of his mind, Zak picked a quick black shirt and dark jeans out of the closet and a pair of underwear from the small dresser drawer in the center of the closet. He quickly put them on and rushed downstairs, he was too curious about this "situation" he was about to hear.

Apparently he was too fast, Leif hadn't even gotten downstairs. The woman, who Zak now realized was wearing a long white lab coat, had a small sort of chinchilla with large ears and was standing cautiously on it's hind legs, apparently cowering from the guest in the room.

"You know, it's the middle of winter," she gave a small chuckle, "the far left of the closet has warmer clothes and such."

Zak ran quickly upstairs and looked to the left of his long closet. He decided on his clothes with less haste this time and picked out a white coat with a black rectangle on the back. He found a black scarf that was red on the other side and gray and black fingerless gloves and put them on carefully. He studied himself in the mirror and looked on the floor, his bare toes wiggling beneath him. He quickly searched for some sort of shoes.

"Excellent, now we are just waiting for Zak." The voice echoed faintly upstairs to his room.

Zak looked a little more, until he saw two pairs of shoes in the corner. Both were the exact same style, high top black shoes with a white tongue, with a red stripe above the toe. He tried one pair on, but it was way too big. The other pair fit perfectly and he stepped downstairs. He stumbled down the last few steps and quickly resumed himself, like nothing happened. The woman was smiling cheerfully at the small chinchilla nibbling on the flower and Leif was adjusting the buckle on his belt. Zak sat down and The woman stood up. She put her finger to her mouth as she looked away, as if shushing someone in the corner.

"Where to begin..." she pondered, "Well, first of all, you two were found a week ago on the beach just outside of this laboratory.

From what I can tell, you two were saved by a couple Pokemon! But I won't delve into your past adventures, because i can tell neither of you have the slightest idea what I'm talking about! Anyway, we have a few of the things washed up with you, the rest were unusable or flotsam. From what we have gathered from Leif, who woke up just a day before you, he has no memory. Zak, can you remember anything from before the beach?"

As she ended her question, Zak realized he did not remember any beach nor anything before hand.
"Well... err... no. i cannot remember a thing."

"Interesting... Well, no worries! It will most likely come back to you after a while. Anyway! I am Professor Juniper, and i study Pokemon, these adorable creatures, like Mincinno here!" She gestured to the small chinchilla and smiled, it was trying to balance the vase on its head. Upon the mentioning of her, she fell over and dropped the vase and it bounced on the floor, apparently made of plastic.
Everyone laughed a little and Juniper went on. "You two will help us by raising Pokemon and training them! I know you will develop a bond of friendship with your partner and along the way you'll meet and have the chance to catch new Pokemon! They live all over and everywhere, from the tallest mountains, to the deepest oceans, to the darkest caves."

At the mention of "deepest oceans" Zak saw a memory of him sinking away from a small boat, unable to breathe, and the light slowly fading. Two Pokemon grabbed hold of him and the person next to him, presumably Leif, and started swimming away with them, then his vision was gone.  

She paused, looked at Zak and smiled, "I have a few things for you. Here," she gestured to a small box containing small trinkets and jewelry, "are things that have washed up with you, each of materials are sorted into the appropriate boxes. Leif, your things are on the left, Zak, likewise yours are on the right."

Zak took a look at his small box and brings out a simple pendant that looked like an eye on a black string. He put it over his head, a little disturbed, and kept rummaging through the box. Leif saw some sort of electronic wrist thing and picked it up to examine it.

"We have no idea what that is, Leif. All we know is that it's electronic and goes around your arm." He put it on his right arm and a thin metal strap connected together around his bicep and a thicker band around his wrist with two cords connected by a small disc to allow movement. Leif shrugged and guessed it was broken.

Zak looked curiously at it and it flickered for a second all over Leif's arm, but no one else seemed to have seen it. Zak turned back to his box and saw a small utility knife and a black bracelet with a white line bordering the top of it. He slid the bracelet on and starts messing with all the tools of the utility knife. Leif picked out a combat knife and both Zak and Leif looked startled and confused. After he unsheathed it, a small inscription con the serrated edge of the blade caught the light. "A flyaway leaf makes its own home" Even more bewildered than after seeing the electronic sleeve thing, he attached the knife to his chest, hidden behind his jacket, and looked up.

"Everyone good?" Juniper smiled, "I know all these things are odd and some confusing, but answers come with time! Now! We have more to talk about, come with me you, two." She got up, smoothed her lab coat out and walked out the door.

The trio proceeded down a cramped hallway. The lights were spread too far apart and one at the end of the passageway was flickering violently, giving off an eerie aura. Boxes were stacked upon each side and Leif tripped on one, falling on his stomach then rolling quickly over and staring at the ceiling as calmly as if he had been stargazing. He got up and turned around facing Juniper and Zak.

Leif was wearing a Dark green jacket that almost looked black in the dim light and a purple shirt underneath. His black jeans fell over his shoes completely so only the toe of each shoe was seen. The boots he wore were white with a purple tongue.

They continued to walk down the hall before reaching a small door labeled "EEV[ee]OLUTION" Juniper took a breath, swiveled on her heel and face Leif and Zak. "This is an evolution laboratory, this entire building. This particular wing," she gestured to the door "is dedicated to a single Pokemon who can evolve to multiple different forms. From these cute little guys, you'll be choosing your very own Pokemon!" Zak and Leif beamed and looked at each other.

Juniper opened the door and a large room, very much like the one where they were just at, was filled with playful Eevees. They were all jumping on one another and mewing with delight. Zak crouched down and admired one of them, adoring it immediately, holding it up and saying
"I want this one," then he looked to the side and saw another one and picked that one up and said, "No wait this one!" and continued that cycle four or five more times.
Leif walked over to one sitting alone and playing with a hole in the wall, her paw was patting the wall and sniffing inside it. Leif knelt down and she jumped in his lap and began purring and nibbling at his arm playfully. Juniper walked up and commented:
"Looks like you've found your partner!" She smiled and look back at Zak who had suddenly gone quiet. He picked up a slightly smaller Eevee and brought it closer to Juniper and Leif.

"C-can i have t-this one?" This Eevee was different, instead of brown fur it had a sleek, silver coat. Juniper looked amazed.

"Of course! but... i had no idea that we had a shiny Eevee in our midst! You see, shiny Pokemon are very rare, in fact, Zak is lucky to even see one!" Zak hugged his Eevee and set it down next to him and the shiny little Eevee followed him around. Zak looked back and saw Leif and his Eevee look around with the same misty eyed wonderment and thought it was like looking at doppelgangers.
The hallway they were walking into was small, but there were open doorways on the sides to go into small themed rooms.

"To your left are the various methods to evolve Eevee. The first three are most popular, Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon, they represent water, electricity, and fire respectively."
Each room had two or three Pokemon of the type Juniper mentioned. Two Vaporeon sat side by side staring at a small pedestal with a deep blue rock at the top. In the background there was an Eevee bounding around it. The other two were similar, but there were no Eevee in the fire room or electric room. The only Jolteon in the electric room was sleeping, only lifting an eye when everyone had passed.Three Flareon stared at the passerby and actually growled at the shiny Eevee Zak took a quick step in front of his new partner but the Flareon stuck there noses up and turned away.  

"Next up are two interesting forms embodying Dark and Psychic. Umbreon, the dark type, evolves in the black of night, and Espeon the psychic type, evolves in the warmth of the day!" She smiled at the two and they looked at the mysterious room holding Espeon. One was sitting on a pedestal and moving boxes across the room by concentrating on them. A few steps forward, a pitch black room seem to engulf the two recruits in nervousness. Three bright yellow rings appeared out of the darkness and then a small Umbreon walked closer, it's body covered in a random assortment in those yellow rings. It turned without another look and went back into the darkness, the rings faded quickly and the room was still and black again.

"And finally, the most recent way discovered to evolve Eevee! The Ice rock and Moss rock evolve Eevee to an Ice form, Glaceon, or Grass form, Leafeon. A Glaceon laid next to the frozen rock, attentive to the passerby, and yawned as everyone passed. In the next room, and Leafeon laid in a dark forest setting. the ground was littered with dead leaves and a large rock stood in the center covered in moss.

A few feet after the group passed the last room Leif realized his Eevee was no longer walking beside him. He turned around and saw his Eevee sitting in the middle of the hallway, amazed at the moss rock. She stood up slowly and walked carefully to the rock. Leif jogged to the room to see the Eevee As he entered the room, he felt a warm air engulf him, the smell of leaves and dew all around him. Juniper and Zak backtracked to watch them.

"It looks as if Leif's Eevee would like to evolve into Leafeon," Juniper whispered to Zak.

The Leafeon walked up behind Leif's Eevee and nudged it on the butt. The Eevee, with Leif's similar look in its eyes, walked to the rock and pressed on it with it's nose. The Eevee was immediately coated with a shade of white with a small influx of rainbow. The form of Eevee changed and slowly it adopted the silhouette of Leafeon. The cloak of light disappeared and Leafeon stood in its place. She looked happily up at Leif and he knelt down and opened his arms wide. She ran into his arms and purred. Juniper smiled and waved everyone forward, her eyes watering at the happy moment.
The trio, with their new Pokemon, walked further through the hall and reached another door. There were no labels and it seemed to be just another door.

"This is the exit. Once outside you will follow the path to a small cave underneath a nearby power plant. The reason the light has been so dim and skittish is because a Joltik nest has settled under the power plant on the other side of the island and is feeding off of the energy created there. I feel like getting rid of the nest and scattering the Joltik is an excellent test of your abilities. I will be waiting here for your return. So this is the beginning of your Pokemon journey! I wish the both of you luck, ...wait! i forgot something."

She reached into her coat pocket and took out two small electronic books.

"This is a Pokemon Encyclopedia, or a Pokedex. It registers the data of Pokemon and gives you information on them. As you travel this region you will be sure to encounter hundreds of Pokemon, use the Pokedex to learn about them all! Now, good luck and i do hope you make it back safe!"

Zak and Leif walked out the door and stared at the worn down path in front of them. Leafeon sat next to leaf and mimicked his expressions, while the shiny Eevee bounded around Zak, obviously excited.

A cold wind blew against the team as they walked through the frosted plains of this small island. Zak was wrapped up in his scarf and jacket and the first to say anything.

"Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Not a clue, but i believe we're on an island connected by bridge to the Poltou region. The nearest city is Dylto, and that is on the opposite side of the laboratory." Before Zak had time to ask, Leif explained, "I memorized a simple map hung up in my room."
Leif looked around, his gaze drifting everywhere, while Leafeon seemed pleased to be bathing in the sunlight. Zak decided to play with his Pokedex, and he held it toward his Eevee The Pokedex clicked on and with an expressionless, monotonous voice started:

"Eevee, the Evolution Pokemon. Due to its genetic structure, it is able to adapt to its surroundings and evolve to match them."

Zak was surprised and looked quickly to Leif who had just taken out his Pokedex and was now pointing it at Leafeon The same generic voice chimed on:

"Leafeon, the Verdant Pokemon. After living as an Eevee in a forest, it evolves into Leafeon. Since it does not like fighting, it avoids competition for food by acquiring nourishment through photosynthesis."

After the Pokedex went quiet, the two stared at each other and were suddenly filled with excitement.

The path seemed long and tedious, nothing but few trees and verdant hills were visible for miles. After another hour of walking, the initial excitement had died down.

"I wish we could see more Pokemon." Zak kicked in the air and almost lost balance.

Leif, however, did lose his balance and fell over. Leafeon didn't feel like walking any longer and walked on top of Leif and laid down, front paws folded and head up and looking around. Zak laughed and looked around. His Eevee was eating small berries on a little bush at the side of the road. Zak's stomach gurgled a bit and he looked around. He saw smoke a little further up the path.

"Hey, Leif, look up ahead! There's smoke! Let's go check it out!"

A few hundred feet up the road was a small cottage. Zak got there first, and saw two trees in the front of the small house with a red painted roof and icicles hanging from the gutter. Zak knocked on the door and heard an enormity of barking. The two jumped and Eevee and Leafeon cowered behind them. An old man open the door and his toothless mouth turned into a large gummy smile. A small dark gray dog was barking in the background and appeared in the doorway, stopped barking, and looked curiously at the visitors. The old man spoke in a shaky and frail voice.

"Hellooooo," the old man took in a wheezy breath of air, "What brings, heeee, you two here?"

His grin was still large as Zak replied. "We were just walking toward the power plant, and got-" his stomach let out a loud growl and the small dog jumped back.

"Ehehe, you, heeee, are hungry. My, my, i can cook you two something to, heeee, eat."

"Thank you, lovely house you have!" Leif looked around as the old man walked into his small house. Zak pulled out his Pokedex and pointed it at the confused dog looking up at him.

"Poochyena, the Bite Pokemon. Noted for its tenacious behavior, Poochyena will often chase after its prey until they become exhausted."

"Ahhh, heeeee, got a Pokedex, do you? My grandson has one, heeeee, got it from some tree professor, Bark maybe, heeeee, I don't know, ehehe, my memory is shot." He grabbed two bowls of thick vegetable soup and put it on a table. "Come over here and eat some food."

Zak ran over and almost jumped over his chair. Leif lingered by the book case, looking at a picture of a young boy with black hair and a yellow mouse on his shoulder next to a girl with orange hair tied up in a side ponytail. Then a taller man looking away at some girl feeding birds in the background. He tore his gaze away from the dusty picture and sat at the table.

"This sewp ees uhmasing, tank yew sew mush!" Zak was plowing through the vegetable soup, two empty bowls were sitting on top of each other a foot away from him. Leif was more reserved, making specific vegetables fill his spoon so he'd only eat carrots or potatoes at the same time. The old man walked in with a black and gray bag and turned to Zak.

"You remind me of my grandson, and he never went anywhere, heeee, without a bag. A true adventurer, heeeee, always needs one! So take this, heeee, don't be shy, i haven't had visitors in forever, heeee, and I'm 86! heeee, and i also have a present for both of you, heeee."

The man retrieved ten small spherical capsules from his pocket and presented them to Zak and Leif. They were half red and half white and he held up one and it expanded immediately once he rested his thumb on the dot in the median of the two colors.
"These are poke balls, heeeee, judging by your bewilderment, heeee, you haven't seen them before, ehehe! When you weaken a Pokemon in the wild, you may throw this handy, dandy capsule and it'll, heeee, catch the Pokemon! Be warned, though, heeeee, they don't always work!" The old man coughed for a few minutes. Then beamed brightly and looked at the clock. "Oop, it's late, heeeee, you better get going if you wanna make it to the power plant before, heeeee, sunset! Be careful, and, heeee, here's a thermos full of soup. ehehe, stop again once you're, heeee, famous Pokemon trainers, heeee."

He waved at the team from the door, that same gummy smile showing brighter than the first time they saw it.

As the team walked down the windy road, the terrain became more uneven and the trees more common. Darker rocks lined the road as if in attempts to make a wall, and the wall only grew taller further along down the path.

It was about 4 o' clock as Zak checked his Pokedex, looking at the digital clock on the cover of it, the sun was lowering in the sky and they only had a few hours before sunset. Leif was looking suspiciously around, picking up rocks and biting them, running back and forth from one side to the other, testing rocks and tasting them. 200 yards up ahead the pile of rocks got much steeper and tall wooden pillars were connected by thick wires appeared closer together and looked connected to whatever was on the other side of the mountain.

Small, cat-like animals were running playfully around an electric post up ahead. As Zak spawned a curious glance in their direction they stopped, and ran hastily over to the travelers. Zak knelt down and pulled out his Pokedex He heard a loud thud and quickly turned around. Leif was laying on his back with three of the small animals on top of him, his Leafeon laying on top of him with them.

The Pokedex whirred and clicked as the familiar voice reappeared."Shinx, the Flash Pokemon. The contractions of its muscles create electricity. When in danger, Shinx makes its fur shine brightly to divert the attention of predators. The males have a taller spike of hair than females do."

Zak looked at the three Shinx bounding on top of Leif, who grunted with each jump. Only one was a male, and gave the impression of a brave cat, standing tall and proud, but still acting full of energy and very playful. The other two were jumping and mewing with joy, excited to see people. Zak was petting them, laughing at Leif's accident of being knocked over by tiny Pokemon.

After a good little break, Leif and Zak were both on their feet and walking along the road. The path started into the mountain and was escalating quickly. But they were only walking up hill for a few minutes before reaching the top and an amazing view.

It was a very lively power plant. All sorts of electric Pokemon were moving and working, even poke balls looked like they were moving around and generating electricity. In the center of the vast plant, a small office like building with a large, dog-like, creature stood, with a white lower face and a purple cloud-like bush growing on it's back.

Zak stood there, a sharp pain raced through his brain and initiated some sort of vision. Two young men stood, cornered by 4 large brutal Pokemon and their two trainers in the back. A rush of electric water that was flaming on the top shot through at the feet of the men and Pokemon, while the two young men looked from the direction which the anomaly spawned. Three dog-like Pokemon stood before the duo, nodded and ran off in three different directions. Zak's mind toggled back to the present and looked at the Pokemon again. It was gone.

Confused, Zak turned to face Leif but instead, he caught himself eye-to-eye with the yellow canine. The Pokemon nodded, jumped over the small mountain side, and sprinted off. The interaction with this Pokemon set off the device around Leif's arm. It whirred and gently clicked, lights flickering and a voice stuttering on. "Th-The Electric dog-g-g from t-the trio of do-ogs in the Jo-hto region-" The voice was pitchy, and made a high pitch screech after the first sentence that caused the birds in nearby trees fly away. It finished quickly and without error, "Raikou has been known to be faster than lightning and just as deadly, proceed with caution."
The duo looked at the device on Leif's arm, confused once again. The gadget was functioning perfectly now. The time flickered and their location in the region was visible. Information of all sorts was showing- the next time the moon would be full, the temperature, the weather for the next few days, and all Pokemon in the vicinity. There was an empty column at the top that was marked "Mission:" but it was empty and all Leif could see was his skin under the layer of blue. The two talked, curiously, about what the device could be for, and why Leif wound up with it.

After ten minutes of pondering the arm device, they looked around until they saw a small, scarcely used path that led to a descending tunnel.

"That must be the place! Eevee, prepare yourself." Zak took a few steps forward, looked around and then proceeded the rest of the distance. Leif followed Leafeon and Eevee and watched the area intently.

There was no movement and the orange sky seemed to give an strange peacefulness to the area. All of the sudden a gray-blue fluff ball flew from out of the cave. Apparently, it was frightened and electric thread hung from his wings and body. Zak carefully held the small bat and plucked the webs off of him. The small fluff ball stopped shaking so much and it calmed down.

"Agh!" as if Zak just realized he was holding a bomb, "oh, wait! I wanna catch him! Eevee, use tackle!" The small bat turned quickly to see the silver Eevee dart out of a bush, running towards it. It was knocked to the ground and tried to flutter his wings, but was too weak. Zak quickly threw his pokeball and it absorbed the thing in a spasm of red electricity. The poke ball fell to the ground and the dot in the center of it glowed bright red. The poke ball only shook to the left once before clicking and turning the red dot off. Zak ran to the poke ball and lifted it in the air immediately crying "YES!" and dancing. He held the poke ball tightly as he approached the entrance. Then Zak took a deep breath and walked semi-cautiously ahead. Leif knelt and examined the dirt of the entrance to the cave and suddenly shot up and ran to Zak when he had gotten 20 feet away. The cave was very dark, but before it could turn pitch black, the team walked close to a wall covered in glowing electric webs illuminating the area dimly.

"Must be Joltik. We don't have much further to go." Zak commanded well and proved his leadership skills as his shiny Eevee stood proudly and strutted at every confident word of Zak's.
A muffled noise was heard ahead, and some blob-like shape was glowing and wriggling in the distance. The pair approached in caution, unsure of what this thing was. The glow was bright, but it was obvious that these were Joltik webs.

"Razor leaf!" Leif commanded, and Leafeon shot a few leaves from her head and they cut the webs, releasing the Pokemon. It stood slowly, making everyone back up a few feet. The large spider-type Pokemon moved forward casually and concentrated on Leif and Leafeon. It shot a small thread of electricity onto Leafeon and rubbed it's head against Leif's leg cheerfully. It was obviously expressing it's gratitude.

Zak was holding his Pokedex forward and the monotonous voice chimed in. "Galvantula, the Elespider Pokemon These electric spiders trap prey using webs of electricity and hold them still using the forearms positioned in front of it's head. Their 6 eyes allow excellent vision."
"Well, looks like he likes ya!" Zak laughed and watched the Galvantula attach himself to Leif, latching onto his leg.
"He is pretty awesome, though!"
"But why was he trapped up? He looks like the evolution of Joltik, what's the big deal?"

"Hmm... beats me. But we should continue on." With Leif's words they walked through the cave, Galvantula still gripping happily onto Leif. There was an archway about a hundred feet away and there was an extremely bright glow emanating from it.

"This must be it." Zak crouched and silently walked to the wall and peered in carefully. Leif did the same on the other side. The archway led to a large domed area. There was a metal storage tank slightly protruding from the very top of the dome and the floor gradually sloped downward.
Joltik were everywhere, hundreds upon hundreds were scuttling around, clicking to each other, crawling on walls and making a very large mosh pit in the center. The tankard at the top was covered with Joltik trying to siphon electricity from the power plant. Zak looked at Leif, the three Pokemon at disposal, then the poke ball clutched tightly in his hand. Even though the Joltik were miniature, defeating hundreds of them might be difficult.

After minutes of hushed movements, whispers, and eccentric hand signals, Zak waited for the best time. "Phase one, Galvantula will crawl in, hidden against the dark wall and go to the spot on the other side of the room. He'll then shoot a bright blue web and it'll attach to a group of Joltik on the electric tank. While they are preoccupied, Woobat will fly to any remaining Joltik not distracted and use attract-"
As he was saying this, A bright, neon blue web shot into the air and clung to a large handful of Joltik. They wiggled, trying to get it off but suddenly fell to the ground instead. The let out a kinda of gritty squeaking sound as they wriggled to flop over. a different group of Joltik quickly ran to the tank and started feeding. Zak's Woobat fluttered quietly over to a clique of Joltik communicating and used attract. All but one appeared to be mesmorized, but Woobat flapped her wings and whipped up air around her making the Joltik flop over knocked out.

"Phase two; We'll run in with our Pokemon and started tackling as many as we can before they come to, and realize what's happening. GO!" Zak shouted and Leif charged with him, The shiny Eevee and Leafeon in front. Leafeon was shooting sharp leaves quickly at unsuspecting Pokemon the rest of the hoard soon realized what was happening and the two were shouting orders while avoiding electric webs and lighting shocks. Leaves were flying randomly into the seemingly endless wave and Galvantula was brutally attacking those in the back, picking them up and throwing them into the wall. Woobat was using confusion against some and Eevee was using quick attack to speed from one Joltik quickly to the next, safely avoiding the bug bites and slashes.

The fighting went on for an hour or more, both trainers sweating, constantly moving and now starting to fend off Joltik attaching themselves to their legs. Before long, all the Joltik were knocked out and Woobat and Leif were taking them out into the woods and getting bird Pokemon to disperse them all over the region. Soon a major electrical surge was heard and a tremor shook the entire cave.

Everyone ran up top and looked at the power plant. It was running twice as brightly than earlier, and the turbines were going faster. The electric Pokemon working looked a million times happier. The pair smiled at each other and sat against a large rock on a small cliff near the cave entrance.
Leif's device clicked on. It glowed a bright blue and read "Battery low, feeding off energy nearby." After a couple more minutes the screen said "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED," then the device clicked off again. A purple light suddenly appeared and Espeon popped up from it. She had a note in her mouth and Zak removed it. He read it carefully,

"The power just came back on! You guys have succeeded! Congratulations! I've sent Espeon to bring you back here.
See you soon,
Juniper"

Espeon started weaving in and out of our legs and started glowing gently. "I forgot!" Leif bolted toward the cave entrance. Espeon looked shocked but sat down and watched Zak intently.
"I don't know where he went," Zak shrugged and glanced back at the busy power plant.
"Galvantula," Leif was out of breath from running and bent over, breathing heavily. "Thank you so much for helping us!"
Galvantula ran up to Leif and hugged his leg again. "Do you want to become the guardian of this cave?"
Leif smiled and Galvantula looked sad lowering his head.
"Hey, don't be sad! You should be happy! You've got an entire cave all to yourself!" The Galvantula held tighter to Leif's leg. "You really want to come with me?"

The Galvantula jumped onto his back and acted like a backpack. Leif laughed and smiled, walking back to Espeon and Zak with the giant spider on his back. Zak laughed at the sight of the Galvantula, but was in no way surprised.

After a slight tingling sensation, the Espeon had taken the team back to the Pokemon lab. Leif had stored Galvantula in a poke ball that now hung from his belt. The lab was much brighter now, and no lights were flickering. Juniper was there to greet the team and she was grinning from ear to ear.
"Congratulations, again! you have successfully completed your first task! Come with me for your reward." She turned quickly around and walked to an elevator. "Don't be shy, come on!" Her smile was comforting and made it easy to follow her, even though she was acting a little too happy.

Inside the elevator was a small layout of the building. Come to think of it, Neither Leif nor Zak had seen the outside of the laboratory. There was a large first floor, made up by the room where Zak and Leif were re-united, the Eevee experiments, and another wing that neither knew about and the label had been scratched out. The floors were clearly labeled and the elevator was positioned in the middle of the building. The elevator also had a door on all four sides to allow specific access to one wing or room. Some rooms could only be accessed by pressing the designated elevator button. The second floor was slightly smaller and consisted of storage rooms and special rooms where experiments were tested. Then there was a large balcony that ran right above the second floor, basically the balcony was an add-on of the roof, and that was where plants and berries were grown and solar panels were laid down. Then there was a long tube for the elevator and it brought you up to what looked like an observation deck, but the label was, again, scratched out.

"What's the other wing on the second floor, professor?" Zak asked curiously, staring at the label as if to figure out the name through what was left.

"Oh, i can't tell you that yet, maybe after you get a little higher in our ranks." Her smile was casual and you could tell she was excited, but as for the reason, it was still ambiguous. Zak looked at Leif and tilted his head with a wondering expression. Leif looked back and to the corner of the elevators.

"Why hasn't this elevator been used in a while? and why are the labels gone?" Leif looked intently at Juniper and she laughed.

Zak looked to the corners of the elevator and saw dusty cob webs, then looked down and saw so much dust he made foot prints in.

"Simply because we haven't had anyone pass their first mission in so long!" She made a subtle jump out of excitement, not lifting her feet completely from the floor, but only raising the back of her feet. "And certain rooms have to maintain an air of mysteriousness! More than just two labels have been scratched out, you know, some have been completely removed! She smiled excitedly again and turned to watch the blinking icon ascend to the observation deck. Zak Chimed in,

"What is our reward?" Before Juniper could answer, Zak blurted out, "I hope it's another Eevee! I want every type of Eevee, they're so freakin' awesome!" Zak was grinning widely and Juniper only laughed.

"You'll see soon enough" She winked and stared back at the icon. The elevator pinged and an electronic voice activated.

"Input verification number and ID. Security cameras are activating." Two cameras lowered from each back corner of the elevator.

"872-443-975-612," Juniper recited the 12-digit code and put her id up to the camera.
"Credentials verified, you may proceed." The static voice disappeared and the door opened to a small hallway with no doors or windows between the elevator and door at the end of the hall. A stout man in a lab coat left the room at the other end of the hall and limped very slowly toward the elevator. He had a small patch of brown hair on his square-like head, was covered in scars and was swollen in several places.

"Hey, June!" He said with a forced smile. She replied hello and as he passed Zak and Leif he was grumbling viciously. "Damn Poochyena..."

The hallway was lit by a bluish flame from a strange chandelier. Zak looked up and saw that it actually had eyes and was looking at them. He screamed loudly in surprise, and before either Zak or Leif could pull out his Pokedex, the chandelier had floated through the wall. Juniper hadn't seemed to notice the absence of light, nor the scream that had come from Zak and was still walking, nonchalantly, to the door.

She held her id and slid it into the small card-reader and placed her hand on a dark, gridded screen right above the card-reader.

The scanner let out a thin horizontal beam of neon green light and went up and down her hand. The tumbling of each lock was heard and it was 5 minutes before every lock was removed. The camera by the doorway scanned each one of them and returned to watching the elevator door. The door ahead of them opened, revealing a large command center-type thing with a descended floor that held computers, a large table, and desks. The elevated floor was the ring surrounding it that allowed the viewing of the area surrounding the lab.
Zak looked down. He realized that even the floor and ceiling were glass and he could see how high up he was. His heart dropped, the fear of falling drowned his mind, and he latched onto Professor Juniper's arm. She looked at him and smiled gently like a mother looking after her child.

"Scared of heights? Gardevoir! activate floor and ceiling tiles." There was a short silence and then multiple clicks sounded and one by one, tiles started turning from clear and glass-like to a dark onyx, almost like the night sky. In fact, the illusion of stars appeared on the upper tiles when, in reality, the sun was just rising over the horizon. Juniper motioned the team to a seat on a couch surrounding the table.

"Please take a seat, I'll be back shortly." She smiled, and looked at Eevee and Leafeon lying on the couch next to their trainers looking exhausted. "May i take your Pokemon to be healed?"

Zak looked surprised and immediately responded. "Oh! yes, please!"
Leif nodded and handed her his two Pokemon, while Zak handed her his two. She smiled once more and walked into a small area to the right of the observation deck.

A tall humanoid Pokemon walked out and started typing on a small laptop connected to the table. The table whirred and turned on. There was a elliptical grid in the center of the table that was lower than the rest of the table. All around the edge of the table were plugs, inputs, outputs, and few buttons and switches. The Pokemon looked as if it was wearing a long white dress with thin green arms and green hair that covered most of its face. She turned to look at the two and smiled, almost as if she knew how they felt. Leif studied her a little more and Zak pulled out his Pokedex.

"Gardevoir, the Embrace Pokemon. They can sense the feelings of people," Zak and Leif looked quickly at each other, surprised, "and can view the future with distinct clarity. Gardevoir are very loyal and caring Pokemon"

Suddenly, the door leading to the hall and elevator started unlocking. Two more men wearing long lab coats walked in. The younger looking one had brown hair and a thin figure. He was wearing glasses and smiling as he held an egg in his arms. The older one had short gray hair and more of a square face. He was taking his hand out of his pocket.

"Why hello, there! Leif and Zak, i presume?"

"Yes, that's us." Zak replied nervously. Gardevoir walked up silently behind him and put an arm on his shoulder. Zak was immediately filled with confidence and sat up straighter. "I assume you are both friends of Professor Juniper?"

"That we are, young man. I am Professor Oak," said the older man, "and this is my colleague, Professor Elm. He studies Pokemon eggs and I study human-Pokemon relations!" He looked at Gardevoir for a moment and then nodded his head. "When Juniper gets back we'll start! Thank you, Gardevoir" He smiled and walked to the laptop, typing rather slowly. Elm sat down in a booth across from Oak on the other side of the table. He held the egg firmly in his lap and wiped it clean with a cloth.

After a few moments of silence Juniper ran into the room and sat down next to Leif, returning the poke balls back to the trainers.

Oak nodded and clicked a button on the laptop. The table whirred and made a melody of tones and pings, a hologram appeared above the table and it seemed to be a map of the region. Oak began his speech to the team.

"Good morning! I am relieved you accomplished the task we set upon you! You seem to have a knack of being a Pokemon trainer, and as I've said to many trainers before you, it looks like your Pokemon are already getting along with you!" The Eevee was laying on Zak's lap and Leafeon was curled up in a ball next to Leif. Oak continued, "But now we are giving you much harder tasks and missions. There is a group of villains that have gathered and are experimenting with Pokemon to create a completely loyal servant, that will obey no matter what. This is horrible for Pokemon everywhere! We can't take away Pokemon freedom just because some are smarter than others! So we," Oak gestured to Juniper and Elm, "along with two others, have created somewhat of a resistance against this threat. They go by Team Nihil. They use a wide variety of outfits and disguises, so it'll be difficult to point them out, but if you see anyone stealing or abusing Pokemon, he or she will almost always be a Team Nihil grunt. We may be able to communicate with you through that device on your arm, Leif, so we can update you on side missions as you travel through the region. Your main task, however, will be vague for the most part. Take a look at the map." He motioned to the image of the map hovering above the table. A small dot appeared on an island in the bottom left of the of the region.

"This is where we are. You must go to the opposite side of the region to get to Team Nihil's base. Unfortunately, we do not know where the exact location of their base is. So it is your vague mission to search the region for bases that may have the whereabouts of this major facility. We have the location of one base not too far from here. It isn't a large facility, so it probably will not have the location, but it is an excellent start. Then you will be going around and stopping Team Nihil's various plots. Poltou is practically controlled by them, so it is likely you will run into them often. You have Pokemon, and will catch many more on your journey, but there comes a time when Pokemon are not enough."

He turned around and pulled out a small cardboard box from beneath the table.

"Here you go, Zak and Leif, these are for your protection, because I doubt that a Nihil grunt will accept defeat after being beaten by youngsters!" Zak took out a clip and a 9mm handgun, weighing it in his hand. After Leif had taken his gun and a few clips, they sat back down and Professor Oak finished up. "You are now ready to start your adventure." He took a small flash drive and plugged it into his laptop. Leif's device glowed and turned on. "Downloading files" appeared on the screen and Oak turned toward them. "Those are the plans of Team Nihil agents we have hacked, along with the base plans. The base plans are the detailed floor plans of the base north of here on the mainland. About a week's walk." He paused and looked back at his computer. "I am also giving you names and faces of high ranking Nihil members. They are notorious villains so please be careful

and strategic about facing them. It'd be best to be stealthy and careful about who you converse with on your travels. It is a very harsh world out there, you two. Team Nihil has very powerful Flying bases and massive tanks. They have already left half of the region in ruins, just because they can." He cleared his throat.

"Any who! on a lighter note, I have rewards for each of you for completing this task. Gardevoir, can you bring that trunk out for me?"
A large metal trunk surrounded by a light pink aura floated into the room. "Thank you." The trunk hit the ground with a thud and Oak opened both latches that were locked shut.
He pulled out one backpack and threw it at Leif, then took out a few more gun clips and threw them at Zak. He kept digging through his trunk for things, throwing multiple things at the adventurers, like binoculars, night vision goggles, and sleeping bags.

After a medley of useful survival objects had filled the couch, he turned to smile at the pair. He put his hand on his chin and pondered what he was missing.

"My egg looks very shiny!" Elm stated happily in the silence, apparently unaware of anything that was going on as he finished polishing his egg.

"OH! yes, i almost forgot!" Oak went to a Glass case in the area by the door on the left side of the observatory and pulled out two eggs. "I wanted you two to have eggs to augment you party! Seems silly, now, since you already have caught your second Pokemon, but it will be an advantage later on!"

He gave on last smile before Juniper cut in and said, "Well, it's about time for you guys to be off!"

"But I'm not finished talking to them."

"They understand what they have to do, and if they have a week's long walk ahead of them, they should get started as early as possible!"

"But.. ok, good luck! we'll be in touch!" Juniper rushed Zak and Leif to force everything in their bags and out of the door.

Surprisingly all of the stuff Oak had given them still fit in their bags and did not make them too heavy.

"That Oak can talk for hours, you don't have that kind of time." Juniper smiled as the three walked into the elevator. "You wont see him a lot during your journey, but you will be back here every now and then, and he'll be here. I will travel a lot during these next few months, so maybe you'll bump into me! Professor Birch, the man who was limping out of here, and Professor Rowan are doing field research. Rowan specializes in evolution while Birch specializes in the habitats of Pokemon. You'll meet them later, too!"

The elevator door opened And everyone walked out. Leafeon and Eevee were following peacefully. They got to the Lab doors that led outside and Juniper stopped at the door. The warm sunlight bathed Zak, Leif, Eevee, and Leafeon.

"Well, until next time. Good luck and be careful. It really is cutthroat out there. Just look at those guys!" She put one hand over her mouth and pointed to two men surrounding two small Pokemon "Go save those Pokemon!"
Zak and Leif ran at the Nihil Grunts, while Juniper waved good bye one last time and then retreated inside the lab.

Overhead a large rainbow colored bird flew quickly through the sky, as anti-air cannons went off in it's direction. A Team Nihil Airship was flying and attempting to shoot the graceful Pokemon out of the sky.