"Cheh, you aren't worth our time," one of them replied. "C'mon, guys, let's go meet up with Harvey." They revved their motorcycles aggressively and then left.

"Well," Violet said. "We know that Hero used to belong to a guy named Bones... Let's go through the forest."

"Sure you don't want to talk or something? Things could've gone a whole different way if I was weaker. I don't even want to think about it" Daegan turned to Violet and looked directly in her eyes "Violet, I promise I will never let anything happen to you and to protect you until you can protect yourself" He looked down and sighed then whispered to himself "If I can manage protecting myself that is"

"You don't like the Viridian Forest, do you?" Violet asked. It was a strange concept to her, she had been playing in the forest since she was old enough to walk. "We can wait, if you like. As for talking... I don't think anything too bad would happen. Those guys seemed to have more bark than bite in them." She sat cross-legged on the ground. Libby curled up in her lap and purred as Violet pet her.

"You're right I'm not much of a forest guy I've never had a good time in them, mostly because everything likes attacking me and I always get lost, plus nearly starved to death in a forest one time" Daegan said as he crashed on the ground "As about those fellas I think we should stop going after them, well at least until you get on my level of strength or near it, I think that guy was the weakest of'em and if he scored any hits I would've been KO'ed"

Violet put her hand on his shoulder. "You won't get lost with Libby and I around. We were practically raised in this forest." She smiled kindly. Libby rubbed against his leg and purred. "As for getting attacked... They're mostly bug-type pokemon, and a Pikachu every now and again, all of them fairly low-level. Even Libby could take care of most of them. No offense," she said to the Meowth, who blinked as if to say No big deal. "But we can wait out here for a little bit, until you're ready." She looked at the sky; it was nearly noon. "Though, if we wait too long, we may have to camp out in the forest for tonight."

"Screw camping, let's move out troops!" Daegan roared as he jumped up onto his feet " As for the pokemon of this forest, is there anywhere I can train? I mean I'm a good in the 30-40's with everyone except Zangoose and Shadowlayer, where are the high levels?" He said as he reached around for Zalkneer's Pokeball "Come on out buddy here there be bugs to slay, you're the weakest of the team and we're gonna change that, oh and Violet next time we run into them use your built-in Pokedex to give me some level readouts, okay?"

Violet chuckled. "I'm not sure you'll find many high-level pokemon here," she said. Perhaps as high as level seven or eight? Pokemon reach higher levels the closer you get to the Indigo Plateau. we're a ways away from there."

"Guh, how am I supposed to get my Dragon Pokemon to level 50? Or Zalkneer to 22, how about Whaleson to 40? This region sucks, are you sure there's no strongfolk around? Oh well, less about me, more about you, when are you gonna build your team?"

"Sorry," she said. "What are you up to in Kanto, anyway? Most of your Pokemon are from other regions. I have a specific team in mind, so as I find them, I'll catch them. In the meantime, I'll train the friends I have." The trip through Viridian forest took several hours, and by the time they reached the end, Libby was level nine and Violet had taught her Fury Swipes. "Well," Violet said. "There's the exit. Beyond is Pewter City, with the Rock Gym leader, Brock. Hero should be able to defeat the gym quite nicely, and they can both get battle experience."

Before they could leave the forest, however, the tall grass rustled and a larger-than-average Bulbasaur tackled Libby. OR attempted to; the catlike Pokemon managed to move out of the way right in time. Violet looked at the Bulbasaur and thought "level nine, male." Aloud, she said: "Libby, use Fury Swipes. Try not to knock him out, I want to catch him!" Libby complied. Bulbasaurwasn't able to evade the attack, but he used Leach Seed and siphoned some HP away from his opponent. "Use Fury Swipes again, but go easy on him." Libby's attacks hit Bulbasaur three times; he only had a handful of Hit Points left. He siphoned a few from Libby, but it wasn't enough. Violet threw the Pokeball at it and stared, fingers crossed, as the Pokeball rocked three times. She held her breath and let it out with a "YES!" when the capture was complete. She picked up the Pokeball. "I'll call you Seymore," she whispered to him; the Pokeball was so close that her lips lightly brushed against it when she spoke. Then she remembered that she wasn't alone. She quickly stowed Seymore's Pokeball in her fanny pack.

"Um, shall we go, them?" she asked.

" What am I up to in Kanto you say? I thought I was on the way home to Hoenn, musta got on the wrong boat, but why I'm here might as well do the gym thing, heard the Indigo League was the easiest. This Gym Leader: does he have different ranked Pokemon? Like beginner level then intermediate and so on, cus most usually do, and can I take him on first?" Daegan said absentmindely walking towards the town "Nice catch...Promise me you'll not end up like Gardenia with that thing okay?"

"Yes, Brock has many Pokemon, in case more experienced trainers challange him. He's the first gym in the league, rock type. And I was just excited about catching my first Pokemon. Libby I rescued and Hero was given to me. Sometimes I catch low-level Ratattas and such for the Adoption Center, but it's not the same as catching one for yourself." She skipped towards town, not caring that she looked childish.

"Okay good, Rock type trainer you say..." Daegan as he rubbed his hands together mischeviously "I'll finally get a Wailord"

Violet now had two Pokemon that would be strong against Brock's. She would let Daegan challenge the gym first and hopefully learn from his technique.

Daegan marched up to the gym door's and kicked them open "BATTOULL!!" He roared as he dashed inside. "Hmm, where is evryone?"

Violet crept in after him, looking around at the empty gym. The large boulders that the Pewter City gym was famous for had all been crushed into gravel. A large eye had been painted on the wall behind where the gym leader would normally stand.

"Welp, I'm disappointed" Daegan said with a sigh

"These people didn't just leave," Violet said carefully. "The gym was destroyed. That must mean that they were forced out. Maybe even kidnapped!" She turned to Daegan. "Maybe this is connected with my father's disappearance!"

Daegan satred off into the distance and stroked an imaginary beard, "Hmmm, we should investigate!" He exclaimed as he ran rowards the door "I got just the pokemon for the job"

Violet giggled a little, then went over to the large red eye that had been painted on the gym wall. The paint was dry, but still a little tacky. "They must have done this while I was in Pallet Town," she said to herself. "This isn't Team Rocket's symbol; I wonder who it is."

"Who knows?" Daegan said then frowned "I have a call on my Pokenav, excuse me while I take this...Hello, Brendan?...Yeah, Kanto...New region....Kalos?...MEGA EVOLUTION?" Daegan then hung up and stared at Violet with his mouth agape, "Violet, I would love to play detective but they just found a new region that sounds quite interesting, yet again you are, well you...So I'll stay for now but will slightly despise every second. Deal?"

Violet smiled. "Okay. We may as well move on, I suppose." She took a photo of the large symbol before leaving.

Daegan exited the gym, rushed into the pokemon center, and exited with a linoone. "This is Sherlock, his Odor sleuth is the best in the business" he said when he re- entered the gym and stood beside Violet