Pokémon: Winds of Orlana [Advanced | PG-16 | Started | Not Accepting]

[Guest Tainted Black]

Josh was still in shock, and barely heard Jason's question. He waved him off on the tea, and spoke his mind, "Yeah... I would not mind at all..." He marvelled at the building, and how it differed so much from anywhere in his hometown. "Wow...." He breathed aloud, not noticing he had done such. He just could not get over the large and beatiful Lab. "So, why does she need to tidy up, Lisa?" He asked his companion.

[encapturer]

Lisa sat down in the nearest chair and stretched her arms and legs. She was glad to finally be able to sit down and relax after all the events of the day. Who knew she would find herself fighting the guardian of the forest! As Professor Sycamore disappeared deeper into the lab, Lisa couldn't help but wonder what reason she would have to venture into the forest without any Pokemon.

 

When Jason offered tea to the group, Lisa shook her head. She preferred water, but she was too comfortable to move from her seat, and she didn't want to ask the boy to do something like that. The others were marveling at the lab; while it was indeed nice, this place had nothing but bad memories for Lisa, since she was denied her starter pokemon every year.

 

Josh then asked about what Professor Sycamore was doing. "She probably just needs to clean herself up a bit," Lisa replied, shrugging. "Dunno why, though, if she was just going to tell us about what happened back there."

[Bringerofcake]

Bahnes had favored one of the wooden chairs that sat around the table and sat in it himself backwards, his arms crossing over the top as he looked over the three of them. He mulled the thought over in his head before he spoke it out loud: "So, did the three of you have anything to do with that loud roar I heard while walking through the forest? It certainly sounded like something big, anyway..." He rocked in the chair as he waited for an answer from the three. Meanwhile, Atominor contented itself with floating upside down on the ceiling, as if it were walking upside down.

[Shradow]

Daisuke shrugged. "I guess it's okay. I have to go back there so I can go to my next stop, anyways, with the bridge destroyed." Daisuked turned towards Peach Town in the distance. "It isn't a long walk, and we should be there in a couple minutes." Daisuke started to walk a little. "So, where are you going after Peach Town? I'm headed over to Ivy Woods since I can't go through to Azure City."

[Otaku-sama]

Maro squirmed himself out of Nyoko's iron grip and backed off a bit while Nyoko walked back into town to try to find another way to Azure City. Maro floated ahead of Nyoko as she followed slowly, thinking while looking at the sky.

 

"How am I gonna get to Azure City? I might have to call dad to bring me home now...I don't wanna to go home so soon!" Nyoko half sobbed to herself as she aimlessly walked through the now deserted town. As she lamented, she eventually was attracted by the sound of people still in the town inside a tea house. She decided to think about what she would do about her dilemma over a cup of tea. She entered the tea house, with Maro close behind. She sat down at the opposite table and ordered herself a pot for herself and Maro, who drank greedily from a tiny scaled down tea cup.

[Tempest Dahlia]

"I have no idea..." Robert said, scratching the top of his hat with his index finger. "For now i'm traveling to Butternut Village for now. There's a Pokemon Contest being held there..." He sighed. "Anything after that, i'm a free spirit."

Duskull floated lower to the ground, observing Daisuke with a fierce gaze. He wasn't very trusting of... well, anyone.

"Oh! Duskull!" Robert called. "Where are your manners? Aren't you going to say hello to Daisuke?"

Dusked turned his face.

"Don't be like that..."

[encapturer]

"We were asked to look for the professor..." Lisa said, now leaning forward so the others could hear her better. She actually looked serious, as if whatever she was saying was urgently important. "Actually, I wanted to meet the new trainers from my hometown, but Sycamore left that place before even giving them their Pokemon!" She caught a glance of Bahnes' Atominor floating above, and wondered for a moment if she should send out Floatern, but she could not bring herself to risk having the Pokemon mess with anything in the room. While Floatern listened to her, he tended to unwittingly cause disasters indoors.

 

"We did fight Ochre Woods' guardian, probably caused the sounds that you heard. It was loud, angry, and furious for some reason... But it was an *ex-ci-ting* battle!" She glanced at Josh and Jason, suddenly smiling. After all, that battle tested her and Floatern's limits. "Right guys?" she added, wanting to clearly hear what the new trainers felt about the battle.

[Proto]

After the people on the bridge had been evacuated, Ralis and his badger companion walked into the city, the small creature was silent, not even crying a small "Badgex" like his species usually communicated. He then passed by several buildings, thinking about what would have happened to the people on the other side of the bridge. He then came across the Pokemon Laboratory and let out another sigh, he had not gotten another Pokemon for Badgex to battle and train with.

 

He heard several small noises from inside the normally silent building and his mood began to rise, new trainers were going to get Pokemon, he just knew it. Sitting down by the entrance of the gate, he began to wonder "How was old Excavade going?"

[Hydra of Ages]

Eri glanced around the various stalls that litered Peach Town's Main Street with interest. For a makeshift bazaar, it was rather devoid of people she thought to herself. Then again, with the commotion at the bridge, she assumed most people were preoccupied with their worrying and fretting over later bomb attacks. Morbidly, Eri wasn't entirely sure she'd dislike that- the possibility of seeing that giant bird again almost outweighed her common sense.

But then again, she didn't really have power over when terrorists struck, so why worry about it? She smiled as she examined a few fruit, and handed the stall manager a couple coins, receiving two bright green apples in exchange. She continued her trek across the paved road, pausing briefly to hand Lancelot his fruit, which he took to with an excited squeal.

She briefly considered letting Gawain out of his Pokeball, but decided against it. The Togepi was a deep sleeper, and generally seemed to dislike being disturbed unnecessarily. Besides, she simply wasn't as close with Gawain as she was with Lancelot, having only received him a couple days ago opposed to the several years of history she had with the Dratini.

 

Ivy town, she thought to herself. There must be a second bridge, then, she recalled. She wasn't entirely sure where she should be going, but she assumed East was as good a direction as any. She'd near-memorized a general map of Orlana earlier, but already the details of the smaller settlements were starting to drift from her mind.

[Saiba Aisu]

GM Post: Peach Town

GM Post: Peach Town

 

Everyone except Lisa exchanged disbelieving looks at the change ten minute's worth of tidying up had wrought upon the Professor—instead of wildly tousled and tangled hair, she had fashioned it into a simple and yet elegant arrangement that consisted of two strands wound up with another portion flowing freely down her back; to top it off, two brown-colored sticks of amber held the hairstyle in place. Similarly, the Professor had traded in her tattered outfit for a black blouse worn under a white jacket with a cream-colored skirt, had removed all visible traces of mud from her body, and was wearing a pair fashionable glasses, as well—all in all, it was a tremendous improvement over how she had looked before.

 

"Anyways, let's get down to business," she said in a brusque tone, moving over to one of the empty seats and settling down upon it gracefully. "You're probably wondering why I've invited you to my lab," she asked them in a tone that discouraged any answers. "Well, I'll tell you why—first, I wanted to thank you for rescuing me from that Excavade in the Ochre Woods; I'm truly grateful for your help. Second, I wanted to explain to you why I went wandering in the forest without any Pokémon to protect me, as well as what I suspect may be the reason that Excavade was behaving so strangely. And finally, I wanted to apologize for not being there to give you your first Pokémon—I'll make up for that in a moment."

 

The Professor took a deep breath to compose herself before beginning her tale. "As I traveled through the Ochre Woods to my parents house a few days ago," she said, "I noticed some strange tracks in the forest. Now, it's nothing unusual to see a traveler or curious local in there from time to time, but the tracks indicated several people had been there. The foliage and undergrowth were disturbed, suggesting that they had gone off the path for some reason. I didn't pay it much mind at the moment, but I began to notice a certain disquiet as I went further through the woods—there were hardly any Pokémon about and those that I did see were behaving very strangely, as if they were terrified of something."

 

Professor Sycamore reached over and poured herself a cup of cooled tea, taking a small sip. "Even though I was glad to see my parents, I was uneasy about what I had seen in the woods. Last night, I decided to go back and investigate—that way, I could be back before anyone noticed I was gone, seeing as it was probably nothing. I decided not to bring any Pokémon with me for that reason, though; it was clear that whatever was happening was something that affected the local Pokémon profoundly. I started off by following the tracks as best I could, thinking that perhaps whoever had made them had something to do with their unusual behavior—unfortunately, I didn't get very far before being attacked by that Excavade you saw earlier."

 

She grimaced slightly before continuing, "I never dreamed that the Guardian of the Ochre Woods could be worked into such a rage, and without any Pokémon with me, all I could do was run. I tried to calm it down as best I could, but that didn't work either; if it hadn't been for your timely action, I would have been done for. Anyways, I'm sure that whoever enraged Excavade did it on purpose—it was as if they wanted to draw him out and make him angry by damaging the forest deliberately."

 

[spoiler=[b]Professor Sycamore[/b]]

 

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll217/GXCyber_Star/ProfessorSycamore.png' alt='ProfessorSycamore.png'>

 

 

[Shradow]

"A Pokémon Contest, huh?" Daisuke eyes became unfocused as he began to think. I've never thought about those very much ever since I got Munchlax. I've heard a lot about them, and I've seen them on tv a lot. I wonder if it would be fun trying one of those? Or perhaps I could go after the Pokémon League championship. It would make for an interesting challenge. There's a Gym in Ivy Town. To get through it I'd have to go through Ivy Woods, and that woud make for great field work. Hm... Why not do both? Daisuke smiled a little. "That sounds cool. I may just try one of those. So, are you ready to go? I don't see any point of sticking around here."

[Tempest Dahlia]

After silently scuffling with the defiant Duskull, Robert gave up and sighed deeply. "Alright, let's go..."

Duskull, a triumphant grin on his face, followed behind his owner.

"So you're going to enter the contest too?" Robert asked, stepping over a few twigs. "You must be an aspiring coordinator too! That's great, maybe we can train together when we get there?"

They were getting close to Ivy Woods. Soon they stood at the entrance, gazing into the darkness that the thick canopy of the trees provided.

[Aesirson]

"So Excavade was angry because the forest had been destroyed? That makes sense..." Jason drank the rest of the tea in one sip and then placed the glass on the table. He looked around the lab again and smiled.

"Good thing we arrived when we did, or else we wouldn't have met and I wouldn't have met Squinky..." Jason forward and looked at the very final drips of green tea at the bottom.

[encapturer]

"Yeah, good thing," Lisa said, nodding in agreement. She was still leaning forward, listening intently on what Sycamore had to say. Now that Sycamore was cleaned up, Lisa noticed how sweaty she smelled since she was outside since early morning. Probably when Sycamore went off into the forest, in fact.

 

"I still don't get it, though," Lisa continued. "What could they gain by enraging Excavade? If they wanted it out of the way, they could just catch it." Before even becoming a trainer, Lisa felt that any problem with a wild Pokemon could be solved by catching it. Everyone around her kept telling her that was wrong; the problem was that while she *did* know it was wrong, she couldn't help but slip back into that mind frame from time to time.

 

"...Or... something." Lisa added awkwardly after a pause. Jason was right, Excavade probably would go crazy due to the forest's destruction. Whether or not their actions made sense, they needed to be stopped.

 

Hopefully Sycamore has someone in mind... Lisa thought to herself, as the others continued to speak.

[Saiba Aisu]

GM Post: Peach Town

GM Post: Peach Town

 

[spoiler=GM Post: Pokémon Laboratory, Peach Town]

 

"That's not the worst of it, though," continued Professor Sycamore laying her cup down with a slight clink on the wooden tabletop. "I'm afraid that it just doesn't make sense—even if the disturbance of the Ochre Woods was enough to throw Excavade into a killing mood, which I highly doubt, whoever enraged it didn't even bother catching it or making use of it."

 

The pink-haired woman sighed slightly and looked out the wide french windows to the verdant countryside that characterized the region in which Peach Town and Ochre Village were located. Finally, when she spoke, her words were slow but they seemed to ring with a sense of prophecy. "It's as if the effort to enrage Excavade was nothing more than an experiment," she mused to herself softly, "designed for some more important use later on."

 

The Professor sat there pensively for another moment before straightening and turning back to the four companions. "Forgive me," she said, smiling slightly. "It's probably nothing more than wishful thinking on my part—just a kind of gut feeling, I suppose. Anyways, it was truly fortunate that you came when you did; I am in your debt for saving my life."

 

Her gray-blue gaze shifted from Bahnes to Lisa, then to Josh and finally Jason. "I wish there were some way I could repay you for your bravery, but I can't think on many ways in which to do so, especially in regards to you two," she said, addressing the sun-browned Lisa and the slightly eccentric Bahnes.

 

"However, there is one thing I can do for you," she continued, this time addressing Josh and Jason. "If you are agreeable," she explained, "I would like to make a gift to you of the Pokémon you used during your battle with Excavade... Call it a sort of recompense for missing our appointment this morning."

 

Professor Sycamore smiled again at the expressions of dumbfounded shock and joy on both boys' faces; evidently they had been very eager to receive their very first Pokémon for some time. "You should be proud of having battled so well with such little experience. I may have missed a few of its finer points, but your battle with Excavade was nothing short of prodigious. I am very impressed, and that's saying something—I have every confidence that you two will raise these Pokémon to be even more capable battlers, but more importantly, your constant companions, as well."

 

Seeing that everyone had nearly finished their drinks, Professor Sycamore stood up and indicated that the four companions should do the same. "I have a favor I'd like to ask of you," she said to them, turning and leading them out of the living room and through a pleasant and cozy-looking kitchen, "but first, I need to send a message."

 

[Guest Tainted Black]

Josh sat wide-eyed, staring at the woman that had once looked so... ragged and dirty. She was now a prim and proper woman, and looked as she should, being a professor. He caught himself staring, and an urge to womanize rising, but he repressed both, and listened to her announcements and the others' input. "Well, I agree with you about Excavade being an experiment. It seemed too... convenient to me." His face had a musing look to it, until he heard her latest announcement. He was going to get Wulfyr. His face lit up like a lightbulb, and he grew a smile. "Thank you so much ma'am, and thank you for your praise, though I'm sure your exaggerating." He continued in thought. "I shall name him Fen... yep, that's perfect!"

[Shradow]

Daisuke shrugged as they left behind the sun and walked into the darkness of the forest. He really didn't mind dark places, as he spent long periods of time indoors or similar dark places, doing field work and studying, attributing to his relatively pale skin. "'Aspiring' might not be the correct word, but it does sound interesting. I could probably formulate a proper strategy for victory. However, before we make out way to Butternut Village for the Contest, if you don't mind, I am also interested in the Pokémon League challenge. There is a Gym in Ivy Town, and since we will more than likely have to stop by for supplies and rest, I would like to challenge the Gym. However, my only Pokémon is Munchlax, so while I'm here I will have to catch more Pokémon." A slightly devious smile crossed his face. "And perhaps I will also be able to do a proper study during our travels. The idea is wonderful."

[Tempest Dahlia]

"... Fine," Robert said after a small thought. "But only because we need to stop by there anyway to get supplies.In the meantime, i'm sticking with Duskull for the contest."

Duskull blushed, although it was hardly visible over his crimson color, and secretly shed a few melodramatic tears.

As they got deeper into the woods, Robert noticed it began to get creepy. "What's that noise?" he asked alarmingly, making Duskull jump in fright.

[Zerato_AST]

"Ugh..." Nathaniel sighed. He'd been wandering through the Ivy Woods for only a few minutes, and already felt lost. He hadn't stayed in Peach Town for very long; he did little more than ask for directions to the nearest Gym, which turned out to be in Ivy Town, which was of course in the middle of the Ivy Woods, much to Nathaniel's disdain. He thoroughly disliked the dark atmosphere beneath the trees - he much preferred to bask in the sun.

 

Gible, who Nathaniel had released prior to entering the woods, began to grasp at Nathaniel's leg nervously. Clearly he was as uncomfortable as Nathaniel was. "Calm down, Gible..." he muttered, advancing further into the undergrowth. After a few minutes, Nathaniel noticed it had become darker as he moved through the woods, until he heard a male voice nearby, followed by what looked like a Duskull jumping up through the trees. Gible suddenly snapped to attention, and hurriedly made his way over to where the ghost pokémon had appeared. "Gible!" Nathaniel hissed, following the small creature as it burst through the undergrowth into the faces of two other trainers, one of whom Nathaniel recognised as he appeared after Gible.

 

"Hey," he said, pointing, "it's Daisuke, right?" Not waiting for an answer, he turned to the other boy. "I take it that's your Duskull? It looks pretty shocked - sorry about him, by the way." He added, crouching down in order to restrain his Gible.

[encapturer]

Lisa didn't say anything, merely watched as Sycamore continued her explanation. She had so many things she wanted to ask from Sycamore as a 'reward', but decided against it, since it seemed like Josh and Jason will finally be getting their Pokemon! She was less excited about the favor that Sycamore was asking them. At the very least Lisa decided to hear the professor out before deciding to accept or decline.

 

Lisa frowned when she heard Josh downplay the group's achievements. "Don't say that..." Her voice sounded disappointed, though quickly became upbeat. "We were great out there!" It didn't occur to her that Josh may have merely been humble in front of Professor Sycamore, or anything for that matter. She just took the statement at face value.

 

While replying to Josh, Lisa found herself interested in what message the professor was sending. For now, she just watched carefully, not worrying that she pretty much *staring* at Professor Sycamore.

[Aesirson]

Jason looked at Sycamore with a glance of happiness in his eyes.

"Oh thank you, mrs!" He then said, rather suddenly. "I don't know how to thank you enough! Maybe I should tidy your lab or something to make up for this honor?"

He got up, looked around the lab and then realized that it was already as tidied as could be so he took a seat again.

"Once again, thank you!"

[Saiba Aisu]

GM Post: Peach Town

GM Post: Peach Town

 

[spoiler=GM Post: Pokémon Laboratory, Peach Town]

 

Professor Sycamore dismissed both Josh and Jason's grateful remarks with a slight wave of her hand, leading them further through the Pokémon Laboratory. Finally, they came to a screen door through which a pleasant summer breeze was filtering; pushing it open, the pink-haired woman indicated that they should move through. The door closed with a soft thud behind them, but none of the four companions paid it much attention—they were fascinated by the sight of the laboratory's central pavilion. Stretching in front of them was a neat gravel path, bordered on either side by lovely gardens with small fountains of trickling water that formed a fairly large pond ahead, scattered with vibrant lilies.

 

As they moved by, the group could discern several Grass-Type basking in the afternoon sunlight, while every now and then a Water-Type Pokémon would surface unexpectedly from the pool before diving back in. While these charming additions were undoubtedly appreciated by the companions, the majority of their attention was drawn to the windmill located at the far end of the pavilion, its blades rotating steadily in the invisible wind.

 

"It's useful to have a windmill to generate energy," Professor Sycamore said, indicating the structure and guiding them around the pool, which was much deeper than it appeared. "As you can imagine, it's no easy matter to power a complex of this size, so every additional bit of energy helps, and it also prevents damage to the environment."

 

The Professor led them towards the structure—as they drew closer, the group was able to discern a fairly large barn to its right, but only for a moment, as they soon stepped into the cool recesses of the windmill. As they cast their gazes around, they saw that the walls were characterized by several sets of shelves, all of which were packed with straw. Nestled atop these comfortable dwellings were Flying-Type Pokémon of all kinds; some of them seemed to be dozing peacefully with their heads tucked under one wing, while others regarded the newcomers curiously.

 

Raising her hand to her mouth, Professor Sycamore whistled; with a rustle of powerful wings and a slight discharge of hay, one of the birds at the top of the loft dove downwards, pulling into a steady dive before righting itself and landing on a nearby shelf. Looking more closely at it, the group could see that it was a Noctowl with wise eyes and brilliant plumage. "Noctowl," Professor Sycamore said warmly to it, stroking it gently. "It's good to see you, my friend. I need you to take this letter to my mother. You know the way so fly as quickly there and back as you can!"

 

Drawing a thin sheet of rolled paper, Sycamore bent forwards and slipped the missive into a leather band tied around Noctowl's right leg. Satisfied that the letter would withstand the journey, she stood back and Noctowl took off, winding its way back into the air and through a nearby window. Within only a few moments, the owl-like Pokémon was a mere shadow on the horizon, bearing steadily towards Ochre Village.

 

"Well now that we're through with that," Professor Sycamore said, turning once more to the group, "I would be much obliged if you would follow me to the Equipment Room. There a few things I want to give you before sending you on your way, as well as a favor I'd like to ask of you."

 

[Hydra of Ages]

Eri found that her walk over to the Ivy Bridge was rather pleasant, uneventful, and indeed, rather boring. It was almost anticlimactic, she figured, how the last bridge she'd been on had blown up, but this one barely looked like it could stand a stiff breeze.

 

Oh, it looked sturdy enough for what it was worth, which wasn't much. A rope bridge she thought with distaste; nothing more than a series of wooden planks held in place by ropes and clever trickery. No, it was probably sturdy enough to hold her across at the very least, but it was still rather uninspired compared to the behemoth that had been the Azure bridge.

 

Had the city ran out of money once the other one had been constructed or something? It was the only way she thought that it could make sense that two bridges, scarcely a mile apart, could be so radically different in terms of construction.

 

She walked onto the Ivy bridge, and was surprised when it didn't sway. It was two plank-lengths wide and was larger than the majority of rope bridges that she had studied before, so that wasn't too surprising. Eri found, to her amazement, she was slightly annoyed that the bridge seemed that well-built. Something that evidently cheap had no right to work properly, after all. You got what you paid for, which is why the extravagant and great was always preferable.

 

Lancelot followed behind her hesitantly, the shy serpent evidently cowed by the height they were up. It wasn't really that much, Eri figured by hazarding a guess at the depth of the canyon. She had been on enough planes to neutralize any fear of heights, so it hardly bugged her. She even paused to fix her hair, which had been starting to sway in the high winds and even, she found to her horror, fray slightly from the sun exposure.

 

She searched her pockets and found a band, using it to quickly tie her hair back behind her. It wasn't her preferred style at all, and she did it with mild distaste, but at least figured that it would help prevent her hair from being damaged any more.

 

She made her way to the other side safely, and she felt minutely disappointed that the giant blackbird hadn't come to break this bridge as well. She trudged on down the dirt path she knew led into the Ivy Woods, and idly wondered how long it went on for. The map she'd seen hadn't been to scale, but from what she'd seen, Ivy Town couldn't be that far away.

 

Well, she hoped it wasn't too far away, anyway. She hadn't brought any food or water with her, let alone anything she could use to camp... for the first time, she glanced down at her cocktail dress, wondering if it was the right garb for the situation at hand.

[Bringerofcake]

Bahnes said nothing this entire time, as there was no reason that he needed to. The professor had told him a lot. Experiments on wild Pokemon, especially with something like Excavade, was cause enough for alarm. Certainly, experimentation was commonplace (in fact, Bahnes indulged himself commonly in that regard) in the world, Pokemon notwithstanding, but the degree and the experiment itself were both odd. What exactly had been done to the Excavade to cause its rage? Bahnes mulled all of this over as he moved with the others into the equipment room.

[Saiba Aisu]

GM Post: Peach Town

GM Post: Peach Town

 

[spoiler=GM Post: Pokémon Laboratory, Peach Town]

 

"This way," Professor Sycamore said, turning and leading them through the doorway of the building that was located in the shadow of the windmill. The group sighed slightly in relief at the pleasant sensation of cool air as they stepped into the darkened room—evidently, the Professor made sure to keep her Equipment Room air-conditioned. Behind them there was a clicking noise as Professor Sycamore flicked an unseen switch; there was a brief electric hum as the lights above turned on, revealing a spacious room that seemed to brim with all sorts of futuristic machinery and complicated looking graphs.

 

"This is where I keep some of the most delicate or valuable items in my lab," Professor Sycamore explained, indicating a wall that as entirely dominated by dozens of shelves lined neatly with hundreds of gleaming Pokéballs. "Not all of those Pokémon are mine," she said with a laugh, watching the awestruck expressions of the others. "Some of them were entrusted to me by several Trainers to be taken care of until they're needed, while others are being kept here for further study."

 

Turning briskly, she led them along the marble floor to the left-most side of the Equipment Room, her heels clacking purposefully as she went. The companions gazed curiously at a wall that seemed dedicated to practical equipment; it was mainly dominated by useful items such as coiled stretches of rope, sleeping bags, and other objects that were part of the average traveler's inventory. "Here you go," Professor Sycamore said, pointing at the wall vaguely while she searched a nearby drawer for something. "Go ahead and take your pick. You'll need them for your journey."

 

Josh and Jason moved forwards eagerly, while Lisa and Bahnes stood back and watched coolly—after all, as veteran Pokémon Trainers, they already carried all of their necessary equipment in their backpacks. After a moment of browsing, each of the boys selected an identical pair of black sleeping bags with a white Pokéball design, a stone and flint, a few cooking utensils, a decent amount of nonperishable food, and a coil of rope each; all of these items were taken and stored carefully inside their backpacks.

 

"Here you go," Professor Sycamore said at last, turning from the drawers she had ransacked with a handful of Pokéballs in her hands. "They're new," she said, handing three of the Pokéballs to each of the four Trainers, "meaning that you'll be able to use them to capture any of the new Pokémon you meet along your journey. I'll leave the chore of explaining how to catch Pokémon to Lisa and Bahnes, though."

 

The Professor turned once more to the voluminous desk and unlocked a small drawer, producing two strange red-colored devices; they looked more like hand-held computers than anything else. "Here you are," Professor Sycamore said, handing Josh and Jason one of the gadgets each, "they're Pokédexes—high-tech encyclopedias that will record information on any Pokémon you may encounter along your journey. They cost a fortune but it's my responsibility as a Pokémon Researcher to provide them to new Trainers, so use them wisely!"

 

"Now then," she said at last, satisfied that all of the preparations were complete, "it's time for that favor I mentioned before. It's clear that something suspicious is happening around this area; I'm convinced that the event in the Ochre Woods was only a starting act to something much more sinister. I can certainly tell you that the destruction of the Azure Bridge was no accident—someone wanted to prevent the Azure City Police Force from mobilizing and accessing this area easily. Since the bridge has now been destroyed, they've accomplished just that; it'll be some time before the police can arrive here en masse. This also means that the only way to proceed from this area is navigating the Ochre Woods—since you'll be traveling along this way, I want you to keep your eyes open and report anything suspicious you see there to the authorities in Siennaville once you arrive there, alright? It's up to us to protect the Pokémon of this region, so don't let me down!"