Disclaimer: Someday. Today is not that day.

Wander

Chapter 4: Team Tag-alongs

A thunderous explosion rocked Route 202.

It happened a few moments after they arrived, The moment their feet touched solid ground the group heard ominous electronic beeping noises emanating from somewhere. Even Carrac was so bewildered that he took some time to trace the sound back to its source...

The package.

Realizing that it was obviously a bomb's countdown, he hastily conjured up various barriers while Conan vanished (feeling a sudden influx of PANIC among other emotions), pulling Dod along for the ride. Kurt distanced himself quietly, unwilling to disturb the psychic-type's concentration when their lives probably depended on it.

After about five seconds the intervals between each beep began to shorten, which did little to comfort anybody. Carrac almost completely exhausted his energy by preparing defenses, before completely restoring it using Recover. Moustache twitching nervously, though much less than before, he then focused on strengthening every fortification present.

By this time the machinery was whirring frantically, audible clicking sounds now emerging. The beeps jumbled and weaved into a continuous tone. Then the commotion, buzzing, ringing and all halted abruptly.

Finally, the package combusted, but the damage from the explosion was significantly diminished by the alakazam's efforts. An almost pleasant wave of heat erupted along with a blinding flash of light with the various noises from before seemed to have been compiled, resulting in a blast that could be heard by trainers on the path a mile away.

All of this action occurred in less than half a minute, followed by the return of Conan and the two humans.

"What...the HELL was that!?" Dod inquired, stupefied.

"I-If I understand correctly," his butler started, slightly shaken himself, "That should've been a trap attached to the package that's activated by teleportation, set in order to prevent thievery by psychic-types and trainers they belong to."

"Oh god, just what's in here? That's some serious security to go tagging along boxes sent by a 16-year old dude!"

"He's a professor, after all," argued Kurt. "It could be vital technology or data of some sort..."

Dod suddenly froze, something clicking inside his head. "What about the package? Is it damaged in any way?"

"No, Carrac prevented that," the caretaker answered, gesturing to the pokémon in question, "Though blocking an explosion with all of that power seems to have taken its toll. We'll leave after a while."

They allowed the alakazam to recuperate before they took off south for Sandgem Town, walking quickly so as not to arrive late, though the bomb had delayed them too long already. Kurt held the parcel until the guard gate leading in was visible, at which point he and Carrac returned to Eterna City, promising to call later, and the task was delegated to the actual delivery boy.

Personnel posted at the entrance were quick to allow him through, visitors a common sight at the town where Professor Rowan's lab was located. While they'd adhered to their strict dress code, the folks of Sandgem certainly seemed quite festive: decorations started appearing a mere block away from the exit door.

As Dod navigated towards a less crowded area, near the suburbs where it actually became possible to keep an individual in sight for more than three seconds, he began garnering attention from his sweaty, somehow slightly burnt appearance. Again, like in his hometown, he could imagine mixed reactions. Frankly, he was hoping for just plenty of space from people who understood that he was probably not willing to deal with him right now.

Regardless, the boy worried that professional researchers would be much more likely to feel weirded out or look down on him than active celebrators of Halloween that were in the open. Within the confines of the lab he had to visit, there would be no escape or blending into the mesh of costumes. He'd have to face arguably the greatest pokémon professor in all of Sinnoh while dressed up in ridiculous, makeshift military garb.

It was a little hard to swallow. The only real authority he was used to dealing with was Kurt, and, well...

Their relationship wasn't all that professional. All those years of playing around gave him a sense of comfort around the man who was probably like a father figure to him. One that got annoyed way too easily.

Conan simply squirmed in his seat, feeling jumpy and upbeat upon sensing the joy of kids collecting tons of candy, continuing to fidget until they'd almost arrived at their destination. Here he stopped moving abruptly and teleported them directly to the door of Professor Rowan's laboratory, startling a familiar face atop unfamiliar attire, and Dod's apprehension vanished.

This young female clearly dressed for the occasion, her attire resembling that of a mixture of a surskit and a swablu: the four-legged water-spouting spider and blue bird with fluffy white wings respectively. She wore a yellow beanie on top of her head and a long, billowing dress of the same colour as the legs of a surskit, represented by four lengthy extrusions protruding from her shoulders, both forwards and backwards. These strands hung just above her bright boots, which seemed to detract from the 'graceful gliding spider' image she was going for. Upon recognizing this person, Dod was surprised, though not to the girl's extent at the moment.

After a startled reaction to their sudden appearance, Lucia calmed down enough to greet the duo properly (with words), the boy still shocked at seeing her here of all places. More notably, he was glad not to be the only one arriving at the lab in costume.

"How the heck did you get here so fast?" asked Dod slowly. "I met you in the library just a few days ago."

"A trainer with an Abra felt like being nice. And you?"

"Same here I guess," responded Dod, not bothered to go into detail. "Conan can't pull off anything that big yet. Anyway, why are you here?"

"Why are you burnt?" she retorted immediately. "You look like you've been to war."

There was only silence. Dod was soon given up on, and the two finally decided to just walk into the building. Before he could stop in front of the receptionist, Lucia seamlessly shoved him ahead, explaining that she was only outside to bring him into the right room once he arrived. Apparently he really was late.

Since starter pokémon were generally given out in groups of three, a supremely excited boy happened to be waiting in the lab for the same reasons as they were, albeit with far more enthusiasm. Dod was pretty sure the guy was on a sugar high. It was Halloween, after all.

Without wasting any time, Dod waltzed over to Professor Rowan to get things moving before he could be chastised. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite catch himself when he actually caught sight of the professor.

It seemed even the scientific institutions of Sandgem weren't impartial to festivities, for Rowan was sporting a fine, fake whiscash moustache. With navy blue attire to match, the man was a far cry from the professional Dod had seen on TV. The boy wasn't sure whether to respect the man more or less for still trying to appear serious when the fake eyebrows were stretched with every flex of a facial muscle. He settled for struggling not to laugh in the professor's face.

"What's that you have in your arms?" inquired the professor curiously, somehow managing to sound intimidating despite his conversational tone.

Dod answered politely, "A package delivered by one of Rad Rickshaw's employees, yours truly." Having responded to both queries and handing the box to Lucia (who stumbled and fumbled with the unexpected extra weight), Dod casually plopped himself down on a couch to survey his surroundings. While scientists had been continually scurrying past him in the hallways to do god knows what, this cool, spacious area was completely deserted. The boy figured this room was designated solely for starter pokémon distribution, explaining the lack of activity.

Only a few other people were present, consisting of Lucia, a couple of researchers still fooling around at the back, and yet another vaguely familiar face, decked out in black jeans and a snazzy red jacket complete with white and black trimmings. Upon further inspection, Dod realised this was yet another person he could've sworn he'd seen before, although he couldn't quite recall where from.

"You work for Rad?" piped up the red jacket.

"Uh, yeah," Dod said offhandedly, hoping it would shut him up. It didn't. If anything, it sparked a revelation that lit up the other boy's face in recognition for only a moment before he scowled again.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, "A delivery boy can't be late, man!"

HELL, Dod considered replying with, but instead decided to mumble a hasty apology before striking up a conversation so they could all move on.

"I think I've seen you before," said Dod, "Eterna City? You were battling in some park with a long name."

"Oh," the guy with messy hair sounded, every ounce and of anger suddenly gone, "You mean-"

"Ahem." Whoever tried to interrupt apparently didn't speak loud enough to be acknowledged, and the conversation persisted.

"That's the one. I'm surprised you remember the name. Sometimes you just gotta wonder who came up with these things..."

"Maybe someone just smashed a keyboard a few times?"

"Or a typewriter. The people in that area are-"

"Excuse me," said a low, loud, intimidating voice that made the boys freeze and turn to face the professor in the room sheepishly. Well, Dod tried to look ashamed, at least, but was too busy holding back his laughter as he set his eyes on Professor Rowan's attire once more. There was the stern face of the man who had appeared on television numerous times, travelled across several regions and contributed to various breakthroughs which allowed people to understand the creatures that surround them that much more. At the moment he was said to be researching the reason behind evolution; why some species did and others didn't, how specimens that evolved earlier and later in their lives differed, and various other questions that most wouldn't dream of entertaining.

Now these facts were brought to the forefront of their minds as the man stared them down crossly.

"Good evening, Professor," tried Dod. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Yes, and you must be Dod," Professor Rowan reasoned, "I see you're already acquainted with Lucia and Spenser here."

"Apparently," Dod shrugged. "Only by passing, really...one short conversation and one sighting."

"Well," he coughed, "I'm sure you three will grow closer as time goes on."

"Yes, so am I."

'Spenser' decided to break the awkward silence that loomed over them afterwards. "What was in the package, anyways?"

"A treat for the three of you," replied Professor Rowan, before asking Lucia to place the box that she was still holding onto the table next to him. Once she did that, he stuck his hand in and withdrew three rectangular devices to show the teenagers in front of him. Each was a sleek red and black design with white trimmings around the sides and vaguely recognized as a Unovan Pokédex.

"These are three National Pokédexes," continued the Professor. "With the capacity to receive, contain and display data for every single species in the world, down to the last variation within those as well. Information on evolution isn't yet available, but if you connect to the Internet regularly, these devices should update themselves automatically. If you're more curious about anything, there is an instruction manual provided inside the cover. Here you are."

With that, he handed the three youths their devices, the first two jumping for joy while the last boy maintained his composure, sulking for whatever reason. Perhaps it had something to do with the slight burns upon his clothing?

Shrugging it off, Professor Rowan winced when, almost in synchrony, the three devices wailed as a request for owner identification since it was the first time they'd been opened.

"I assume you have your trainer IDs?" All three teens except for Dod nodded and handed them over, causing the professor to glance his way. "Well?"

"What, you want an ID?"

"Yes," the man replied patiently. "Your trainer ID."

Dod gave them all a blank stare when the others in the room turned to him expectantly. "I never got one of those."

"How did you get your ralts, then?" asked Lucia, before pausing. "You don't have any pokéballs yet?"

"Bred. And how am I supposed to get any pokéballs without a trainer ID?"

Rowan sighed, shook his head, and waved Dod over to another area in the lab, where a quick photo was taken along with a few forms that had to be filled out.

A few minutes later found them standing around once more with their pokédexes, but as soon as they were done with the configuration Rowan drew their attention again.

"You came here for the Sinnoh starter pokémon, correct?" When three heads nodded, the Professor unconsciously glanced at Dod again before beckoning them to the other side of the room. Over there lay pokéballs set in three groups, each atop its own pedestal bearing the name of their contents' species along with a photograph.

To the left, Turtwig, the small, green, shelled creature with leaves growing out of its head. Next was Chimchar, a species of bright orange primates with flames almost taking place of tails. Finally, there lay the blue penguins' pokéballs on the right. Funnily enough, there wasn't to be any water spewing out from unlikely body parts. It seemed there was a limit to how ridiculous pokémon anatomy could get.

In any case, Dod immediately decided to go for the creature with the shell. If he was going to be kicked out of the house with a bunch of pokémon, then they were going to be ones he could keep up with. Conan being the sad exception, of course. At least the ralts could teleport other things with him when he took off.

Spenser actually beat him to the punch, claiming a chimchar because of how 'boss' infernapes were, which left a piplup for Lucia to complete the trio. The girl said she was going to pick one anyway, but the subtle sense of unease Dod got when she looked his way told him otherwise. Or maybe she was just fed up with having to choose last, because just as quickly her eyes reclaimed that gleam they had.

When all was said and done the great Professor had had more than enough of the three children eating up his schedule, and promptly dismissed them. Before that though, he gave the boy with the cap a parcel about the size of two briefcases stacked on top of each other. The instructions were to kindly deliver it to the first gym leader in the circuit, Roark, since the trainer was obviously going to be there within two weeks to challenge him, after all. It's not like he did it just to provide the least enthusiastic pokédex holder some extra motivation to get going or anything, right?

Damn it.

The least he could do was pay the fees for the delivery. Dod couldn't ask for any without seeming greedy because the good professor made it seem like just a favour, and he had no good reason to refuse if he wanted to save face. If Spenser were here, he might've tried it, but that guy was already out the door by the time this took place, not willing to talk about work that wasn't his.

Professor Rowan, it seemed, was crafty.

On the way out, Dod was surprised to see the other two trainers waiting for him. Spenser's head snapped up the moment his foot landed on pavement, greeting the late boy with a smile.

"Hey, man. What took you?"

Dod shifted the backpack hanging from his shoulders uneasily. "I got another delivery request."

"Huh." The boy's tone grew curious. "Already?"

"A package for 'Roark the Rock' or whatever people call him."

"I didn't know you guys worked," piped up Lucia.

"We do," replied Dod promptly.

Spenser agreed eagerly, "For Rad!" For some reason his coworker shivered, but when attention was turned to him it stilled.

"Anyway," said the boy with the cap, "Is there a reason you guys were waiting out here?"

Lucia answered him happily. "I thought we could do what the professor said. Y'know, get to know each other. We could walk the first route together."

"That," Spenser interjected, "And I want to battle, of course. You guys have two pokémon each, right?" He glanced at each teen in turn expectantly.

"Yep!"

"Now, yeah."

"Let's go to Route 202!"

Dod jogged along for a few moments, purposefully lagging behind, and then stopped. Nobody noticed. He casually reached for a pokéball on his belt loop and dropped it onto the floor. It peeved him when the ball missed his hand on the rebound and he had to go and pick it up off the ground, but at least Conan was out again, instantly relocating himself to the human's shoulder.

"Take us to the gate we were at before," asked Dod.

Conan complied.

The boy had to suppress a grin when the others finally caught up to him. Their reactions definitely made the rest of the day worth it. At least Conan wouldn't get trigger-happy with the teleportation now that he'd had his fill. He hoped.

Regardless, Spenser was glad to see Dod 'in the spirit of things' and decided it would be best if all the pokémon were out. Before anyone could react, he'd already flung two pokéballs to the ground.

One shape was a chimchar, familiar from the illustration in the lab. The other was more interesting, to say the least. A pale yellow serpentine creature about the size of Conan emerged, perpetually closed eyes, tiny wings, a tail like a drill and blue markings abound. Dunsparce.

Lucia went next, allowing another serpent to coil lightly around her collar, this one purple with a yellow tail, underbelly and eyes, along with a single stripe near the front. The ekans was accompanied by Lucia's piplup, who she was currently cooing at in her arms.

Dod's second pokémon was already out, standing straight and at attention like a bold soldier. Fitting, considering his new owner's costume.

One by one, each of them were introduced.

Gamond the dunsparce, Springer the chimchar.

Viola the ekans and Gali the piplup.

Dod had taken one look at his turtwig and dubbed him Validus, meaning strength.

Conan was introduced after that brief explanation. Who needed naming guides and books when you had an English-to-Latin dictionary? Not Dod. Conan hadn't been his to name really. He'd practically done it himself.

That day, nine individuals made their way through Route 202.

And they were not alone.

Author's Notes:

Finally! Yeesh, that was what, half a year since I last updated? By that measure I'll be retiring by the time I get halfway through this shindig. I'd say not to expect more because I have exams in a week that I should be preparing for, but apparently I have a death wish. Still, I work slooow. Don't expect much.

Yes, Dod's dudes will have Latin names. He seems like the type.

In any case, Rowan's package had some...interesting security, didn't it? That just came out of nowhere, really. Dod was understandably freaked out about it, considering...

Clearly these dexes are valuable little things, though professors seem to give them out like candy.

My recommendation for this chapter is The Human Species by Shaded Skies. It's kind of like a sequel to two of the author's previous works, Occult Magazine: Evolution's Gate and Forever Legendary, so I'd read those first. Seriously, I find it hard to criticize them. Characters are great, fights are awesome, and you'll be feeling so sorry for Lucario that the times when he finally fights back are just too amazing for words. Which is impressive, considering that's how they were conveyed.

No reason you shouldn't be looking that up now. I'm certain it'll be a good use of your time.

Anyway, the chapters of my story seem to have reached their limit in length. Let's see how long I can keep this up. A lot of my time working on this was spent trying to figure out the background, plot, and future for this. Definitely not certain of how it'll turn out, but that vague idea I had at the start doesn't sound too bad anymore. I'm sticking to it.

I have a plot, guys!