Chapter 3 - Where oh Where

Larvitar couldn't help but gape at the tall skyscrapers that seemed to touch the clouds way up high. He was still jumpy with strangers, and man there were lots of them. In the young pokemon's point of view, they seem to be everywhere. Always moving; busy; and didn't want to stop for anything. He couldn't see any kids around...mostly grown-ups. That kind of shattered his spirits since if there's one trainer, there's normally more around.

Jigglypuff didn't waste any time gawking and pulled her companion along to a nearby familiar building. The translucent doors smoothly opened in front of them as they both went inside. Unfortunately for them, the pair must have captured a lot of attention. Well, they were two pokémon, a Jigglypuff and a Larvitar, holding hands, and with no trainer. Who wouldn't be interested in that?

The balloon pokémon would normally like the situation, but not now. She wished that they would go back to their pokémon. Suddenly, a Raichu went closer to them and asked gently, "Are you lost?" judging by the voice, it was a male. And he wasn't that very young either. His tone sort of showed that he had a lot of experience traveling around.

"Don't you know it's impolite to butt in to other people's business?" Jigglypuff replied coolly.

But then before the raichu was about to reply, a human approached the trio with a calm expression. He was a boy; about twelve. The male had ice blue spiky hair that covered a small part of his black eyes and his clothing consisted of a plain white long-sleeved jacket, a dark blue undershirt, a simply silver wristwatch that seemed to be a little loose for him, black pants with gray buttons and matching rubber shoes. "There you are Rei. I see you found some new friends." the boy muttered with a small smile.

"For your information mister, we are not his friends." she retorted. Out of the blue, he laughed, earning a shocked gape from the two pokémon. "Wow, you're the feistiest Jigglypuff I've ever met." he grinned.

"Wait wait, you can understand us?" Larvitar said in surprise.

"Turning in to a pokémon once has its advantages." he whispered to him with a wink. "Come on Rei, we need to go to the Silver Conference to train s'more." the raichu hesitantly nodded and followed his trainer out of the center. For a few seconds, the two were just standing there, stunned. The normal type quickly snapped out of it though and swiftly jerked Larvitar to tail them. "We have to follow them!" she shouted.

"But I thought we have to-"

"Forget the Pokémon Center! A kid that can understand pokémon is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" she replied.

-o-

"Hey! Wait up!" Jigglypuff yelled as she tried to catch up with the blue-haired male and his partner. Through the various waves of humans in the crowds and intersections, they luckily didn't lose sight of him. Soon, the duo emerged out of the packed areas and came to a quiet pathway. "Are you deaf? I told you to wait up!" she screamed. Finally, Rei turned back and approached them. "As you've said earlier, don't you know it's impolite to butt in to other people's business?"

The balloon pokémon turned red with anger and frustration. "Unlike you, we have something important to ask."

Tori chuckled and faced them. "So what do you want?"

"We're trying to find a trainer named Ash Ketchum...do you know him?" Larvitar asked meekly. At this point he would have hardened himself like when he was a whole lot younger. But he can't become weak now...

"Ash..." the boy put up a thinking expression for a few moments. "I don't think I have met him." that made Jigglypuff sigh in disappointment and the rock/ground type pokémon look down. "But...I know someone who may have a run-in with him."

"R-really?" they both said at the same time.

"Yeah. The problem is he's at Sinnoh now...if you want to get there quickly, you need to jump on a couple of boats..." Tori then placed his bag down on the ground and unzipped it. Taking out a large map from it, he unfolded the large piece of paper and flattened it on the floor for everyone to see. "Okay. We're here on Mt. Silver." he muttered as he used his index finger to point at a symbol of a mountain. "So...first, you have to go down the path to get to Viridian City. Then, you would have to go down a pretty short path to Pallet Town. I think there are some ports there that can take you to the Seafoam Islands. From there, one of those cruise ships should take you to the Sinnoh region."

"Well...that sounds pretty easy enough..." Larvitar mumbled.

"Hey, you have to remember that you're crossing entire cities you guys. You might take days just to reach Viridian...not to mention the million times that trainers get lost along the way..."

"We're not trainers boy, we're pokemon!" the balloon pokémon said proudly. "We'll be able to make it before you complete your competition whatever!"

"Haha, good point. And by the way, my name's Tori and this is my partner Rei." he smiled. "I'm guessing you guys don't have nicknames so I can just call you Jigglypuff and Larvitar. Is that alright?"

"S-sure..." the rock skin pokémon responded.

"Don't worry; I'll be going with you for the mean time."

"I thought you were busy." Jigglypuff said.

"I was originally planning to train, but the Silver Conference doesn't start in about a month. That should be enough time for Rei and I to get you to Pallet Town and back...as long as we don't get side-tracked along the way of course. After that, you're on your own from there."

"Okay. So let's stop chit-chatting and start moving."

"You're an impatient one aren't you?" Rei commented. Jigglypuff pouted and turned away.

"Considering the time we have...we might be able to reach Viridian City before night fall. But..." he folded the map back and slipped it inside his bag. Slinging it over his shoulder, he took a poke ball from his belt. "Come on out Pidgeot!" Tori threw the red and white sphere in the air and it released a large bird. "We're headed to Viridian Pidgeot. Think you can handle the extra load?"

"Of course." he muttered as he glanced at Larvitar and Jigglypuff. "Those two wouldn't be a problem."

"Great." the boy got another ball and returned Rei back inside. The bird pokémon stretched his wings and gestured them to climb aboard. Tori did it without hesitation, but the other two looked nervous. "Are you sure it's safe..?" Larvitar asked.

"As I've said, don't worry. With Pidgeot's speed, we'll be there in no time." unexpectedly, the normal type jumped on quickly and grabbed on the child's jacket. "Are you coming or what?" she questioned.

The rock skin pokémon stared at them for a short moment before climbing on the wing and sitting right in front of Tori. "Ready."

He nodded. "Right. Let's go Pidgeot!" Larvitar closed his eyes as the sudden gust of wind surrounded him through the bird's flaps. He felt the ground under him gone, and slowly, he opened his eyes and gazed in awe. He can see that he was far off the forest below, and the clouds looked like they were close enough to touch. He could see the sun up in the sky, but not as high as it normally was. The wind blowing on his face was strong, but being a rock type, it didn't bother him at all. "Cool huh? This is why I like flying more than anything." the boy grinned at the young pokémon.

"Uh huh...I've never done something like this before..." he replied. Larvitar glanced behind him and saw the large mountain...his home. He then suddenly remembered his mom who he left alone...the pokémon shook his head. "Don't cry now. No looking back." he thought. "Ash never cried about his mom...or at least, I think so. I should do the same thing."

-o-

It was already sunset when Pidgeot finally landed on a cement road. The bird did not show signs of fatigue, but his trainer knew better and quickly returned him back to his poke ball. "We're here you guys. Viridian City." the rock/ground type pokémon noticed that the place didn't have as many tall buildings as compared to where he previously visited. He took note now that not all cities have huge buildings and some of them look more...well, simpler. That suited Larvitar just fine.

The trio quickly headed to the Pokémon Center and stayed there for the night. After eating a hearty dinner and a few novice trainers asking Tori about Larvitar (to the rock skin pokemon's dismay), they went to their temporary room. The boy placed his backpack on the desk and he took off his jacket. Jigglypuff inflated herself and decided to sleep at the topmost bunk...opposite to Larvitar that wanted to sleep beside Tori since he's been doing that since...forever. Even the time when he first hatched, he was with someone when he slept. That brought back the memories he had with Ash before...

After a few minutes, the young creature can already hear the balloon pokemon's soft snores from the other side. He sighed, and crawled under the boy's blanket. "Hey Tori?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah?" he responded while stifling a yawn and getting ready to sleep.

"What did you mean by you turning in to a pokémon before?"

"...it's a very long story Larvitar. But all I can say is that it's an adventure that I'll never forget."

"What kind of pokémon did you turn in to?"

"A Charmander."

"How did you turn back then..?"

"It was thanks to my friend and his brother."

"You mean the one that might know Ash?" Tori nodded.

"Yep. His name is Riku." the child yawned again. "Okay, that's enough questions. Let's go to sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow. Night." he reached for the light of the lamp and pulled the string to turn it off. The room was dark now, and the moon was the only one shining up in the sky.

"...night Tori." and the two quickly fell asleep.

A/N : Agh...it was so frustrating to research about the route they needed to take to get to Sinnoh. (Thank you Bulbapedia.) Anyhow, I hope I didn't really...disappoint you with this chapter. I only did this in one night you see. And I'm supposed to be sleeping now. If you're wondering about Tori, he's an OC from a story that I have yet to finish. *sigh*

I still have to consider how are they going to meet and how Riku is going to fit in to all this...*groan* This is getting seriously complicated. Please Review!