13 (XIII) Departure

『Would you like to give Nidoran ♀ a nickname?』

『[Yes]/[No]』

『Would you like to give Nidoran ♂ a nickname?』

『[Yes]/[No]』

Isaac stared at these notifications for a long time as he walked through the forest silently with Jack. When his friend first told him about Nidoking and how strong he was, the young boy immediately caught a Nidoran ♂ and used the Moon Stone he found in Mt. Moon to evolve the fresh Nidorino into Nidoking.

'King and Queen are too basic... I can't use the same nicknames I first used...' He thought to himself, 'Duke and Duchess maybe? They sound better than King and Queen at least, but they remind me of dog names...'

Isaac thought long and hard about the potential names of both Nidoran as he and Jack approached the camp. Isaac looked up into the sky, covering his eyes with his palm, taking in the beautiful scenery around him.

He could hear various birds calling in the air and some small ones playing tag through the crystal clear skies. He turned and looked back into the verdant valley below, a serene grace shrouded the forest. A glare from the lake far in the distance reflected the sun. Isaac turned toward the camp and couldn't help but chuckle at the stark contrast between the quiet forest and the boisterous camp.

The pair navigated the camp as they approached Sam, who looked up and threw his arms into the air in excitement, "Ah! Great timing as always Jack! Thank you for helping young Isaac here."

Jack slightly bowed at Sam and took his leave to return to his duties. Sam turned to Isaac and asked, "I take it you were able to complete your task?"

Isaac nodded as he reached around his waist and grabbed the two pokéballs containing the Nidoran, "Yeah, it wasn't my best work, but I got it done."

"Great, that's all that matters! I just received news that the rest of my group is less than an hour away. Once they arrive, someone will guide you back to Viridian City."

"How far is it from here?"

"Oh, probably about three or four hours..."

Isaac nodded, "Is there anything I can do to help while I wait?"

"No, you can go off to do whatever it is you want until they arrive, just stay out of the tall grass, you never know what might jump out at ya!" Sam said returning to the stack of reports on his makeshift desk spewed all over the map of the valley.

Isaac didn't bother replying and left before wandering around aimlessly through the camp. After traveling a short distance he caught a whiff of the sweet scent from the night before and began following it.

The scent lead him through to the back of the camp where he discovered a woman sitting on a small stone next to an Oddish and both of its Kanto evolutions.

"Um... Excuse me!" Isaac said as he stared at the dark-skinned woman. Her hair was extremely curly and pulled back into an afro bun. She wore a long transparent silk kimono that hung open and below she was wearing the uniformed tan expedition clothing.

"Oh, my apologies!" She exclaimed as she covered her petite mouth with both of her hands, inadvertently squeezing her large torso between her arms, "I didn't realize anyone was around! I'm Tayanta, but everyone just calls me Tay."

Her voice was as smooth as honey and as sweet as the aroma in the air. She smiled softly, extending her hand toward the young man. "I'm Isaac, pleasure to meet you Tay." He said, gently taking her hand and giving it a soft shake before continuing, "I hope I'm not imposing, but when I arrived here last night, I was immediately knocked out by this scent, do you think you could help me?"

The young woman giggled as she sat down once again on her stone and began stroking the large petals atop the Vileplume's head, "I've spent my entire life amongst these three and many more similar Pokémon. They're the first line of defense against wild Pokémon out in the wild.

A long time ago, a lot of trainers would fall victim to the sleep-inducing powders but the Pokémon Association had made it a requirement to pass Trainer School and be awarded their Trainer Belt, but you... You're a surprise!"

She reached down and picked up the Oddish and held it against her stomach as the leaves slipped between the cleavage that her shirt could not contain before stepping toward Isaac and extending her arms holding the small plant bulb pokémon.

"Carry this-"

"Oh! There you are, Isaac! I've been looking everywhere for you! I see you've met Tay, perfect!" Sam exclaimed loudly as he interrupted her.

"Perfect..?" Isaac asked turning around and looking at Sam who simply smiled and nodded his head prompting him to turn back around at the innocently smiling young woman.

"Oh, you didn't know? I'm going to be accompanying you on your journey back to Viridian. I need to make a trip to Celadon." Tay said with a sweet smile.

Sam came up and patted Isaac on the shoulder, "That's right, they're almost here so you two can get ready to head on out!" He turned to her and expressed his condolences, "Tay, I'm sorry you couldn't stay the entire time, I know you're working with a few of the unrecognized regions to gain admittance to the Pokémon Association..."

"Unrecognized regions..?" Isaac asked, he had an inkling of what was meant but didn't know for certain, "Do you mean like the Orre, Fiore, and Holon Regions?"

"Exactly!" Sam exclaimed, "These regions are currently being developed to house the required cities and gyms necessary for the Pokémon Association to come in."

"However, there a lot of regions around the world that are vying for spots, and the association enjoys the exclusivity." Tay added, annoyed about Sam's favoritism toward the Pokémon Association.

"Hey, hey, hey now Tay, they do not, there are simple rules and regulations that need to be maintained before they expand!" Sam explained but the woman was not hearing any of it as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her nose up at the scientist.

"Anyways..." Sam said quickly changing the subject, "Isaac, if you have the time, I'd love for you to come and visit me at my lab in Pallet Town, it's close to Viridian but I most likely won't be back for a few months at least, but I'd love to pick your brain when we're both a little freer."

Isaac almost fainted at the thought of entering the lab where the entire franchise started, trying to maintain his composure, he weakly replied, "Sure!"

Sam patted his shoulder once more before leaving without a word. Isaac turned toward Tay before asking, "Which region are you from..?"

"I'm from Orre, we recently were able to drive away Cipher and Team Snagem and have expanded further making it almost as large as Unova on the other side of the continent, but the Pokémon Association continues to reject our status as an official region..." She explained before returning Gloom and Vileplume to their pokéballs.

The two began walking through the camp and arrived just after the group returned from Viridian. Tay went around, saying her goodbyes to the friends she had made and Isaac gave a small wave to both Jack and Sam before they departed the camp for Viridian City.

"I wonder where Michael was..." Tay muttered to herself as she glanced back at the camp once more unable to find the missing man.

Isaac felt a strong glare against the back of his neck as he turned, standing next to Tay, and looked at the camp one last time, scanning around to see if he could see who was staring at him so intently but saw nothing.

Inside one of the tents, a shadowed woman closed the entrance as she watched the pair depart the camp, "Who is that...?" She whispered to herself before releasing a Meowth from one of her pokéballs and knelt next to it.

"There was a boy that just left, roam around the camp and see if you can't find out anything about him..." Miyamoto ordered the small cat pokémon.

"Yes, ma'am!" Meowth replied saluting her and dropping down onto all fours and casually walking out of the tent.

'I wonder if the boss knows about him yet...' She thought to herself before reaching into her shirt and pulling out a worn photo of her and a little girl who looked strikingly similar to her, a small tear fell down her cheek and splashed against the photo before she returned it and exited the tent, slipping away from the camp and disappearing into the forest below...

———

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