A New Journey in Pokémon

[Common]

Years had passed since the night Ethan decided to quietly jumpstart the modern technological revolution from the shadows.

At twelve years old, Ethan was taller, sharper, and considerably better organized. The secret base he'd dug into the underground, popping out by twinleaf town, thanks ot his pokemon he was able to get around quite alot faster than most people assumed.

He pulled the camouflaged hatch shut, kicking a layer of damp moss and fallen leaves over the steel frame until it vanished completely into the forest floor. He wiped a smudge of machine grease off his cheek and adjusted the straps of his pack.


"Vee!"


His Eevee bounded onto his shoulder, shaking out her tail as she caught the crisp autumn breeze sweeping through the high canopy.


"Yeah, yeah, we'll head home soon," Ethan muttered with a faint grin. "Just need to make sure Aunt Cynthia doesn't catch us smelling like industrial solvent again."


He took three steps down the trail before a tinny, muffled burst of heavy rock music rattled through the quiet woods.


Ethan paused, blinking.


Sitting on a mossy boulder right at the edge of the clearing was Dawn. She had her long blue hair tied back, wearing oversized boots, a thick scarf, and a look of absolute, unbothered concentration. Clamped over her ears was a pair of chunky black foam headphones, connected by a thick gray wire to a portable cassette player clipped to her belt.

The girl jumped nearly a foot off the boulder when Ethan appeared to emerge from absolute nowhere, her hands flying to her headphones and yanking them down around her neck with a sharp, startled gasp.

The tinny, muffled audio from her tape buzzed furiously against her collar, rattling out heavy guitar riffs and crashing drums into the quiet forest air.

"Hey! Where on earth did you just come from?!" she squeaked, clutching her chest as her blue eyes went wide. "You literally just manifested out of the bushes! There wasn't even a trail there!"

"I didn't manifest, you were just jamming to heavy metal at maximum volume," Ethan said, a slow, amused grin breaking across his face as he gestured toward the chunky cassette player clipped to her belt. "Where did you even get a tape like that?"

She quickly slammed her thumb onto the stop button with a heavy, metallic CLACK, shoving the player deeper into her side bag as her cheeks flushed bright pink.

"From the network!" she huffed, crossing her arms defensively to recover whatever dignity she had left. "A seller on the local bulletin board was trading physical tape dubs. I mean, if Goldenrod Records wanted the money, they should've released it earlier and not let the radio rips leak!" Dawn said, defending herself.


Which, honestly, was fair. In an era dominated by radio broadcasts and dual-deck cassette recorders, piracy didn't require high-speed lines—just a blank tape, a steady signal, and a little patience.


Although it was the first time Ethan had ever run into a pirate of technically his music.


Ethan blinked, a sudden wave of quiet hilarity washing over him.


Goldenrod Records? He hadn't even thought about the corporate side of things, its just at the time he decided to share earth's music thats the only record place he could think of in the Pokémon world.

"So what brings you all the way out here? This is kinda far down the trail." Dawn states


"VEE!" Eevee cheers.


"Eevee wanted to explore a bit although I think we are qutie far from Celestic City."

"Celestic Town?!" Dawn's eyes went wide, her jaw practically hitting her boots. She looked Ethan up and down again, taking in his grease-smudged jacket, his scuffed shoes, and the surprisingly unbothered Eevee sitting on his shoulder. "Are you crazy?! That's all the way on the other side of Mt. Coronet! You walked through the entire mountain pass just to 'explore a bit' with your Eevee?!"

"Vee!" Eevee chirped again, puffing out her chest as if taking full credit for the cross-regional trek.

"We like long walks," Ethan said smoothly, throwing his hands into his pockets with a completely straight face. "Besides, the trails aren't so bad if you know where the shortcuts are."

Dawn stared at him for a solid five seconds, utterly convinced he was either a total liar or completely insane. But then she let out a long, dramatic sigh, shaking her head so hard her blue hair swayed against her scarf.

"Unbelievable. You Celestic kids really are as weird as the rumors say," she mutters, though her curiosity clearly won out as she gestured down the dirt path. "Well, since you're already all the way out here in Twinleaf's backyard, you might as well walk with me toward Sandgem. Professor Rowan's lab is down that way, and if you're actually planning on trekking all the way back home, you look like you could use a proper route map."

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

God if you could properly navigate the underground you could essentially fast travel all over Sinnoh.

 

[Common]

Ethan grinned, stepping onto the dirt path beside her. "Lead the way, music pirate. Let's see what Rowan's up to."

"I'm not a pirate, I'm a connoisseur of regional culture!" Dawn shot back, though she couldn't suppress a small smirk as they fell into step down Route 201.

The walk toward Sandgem Town was quiet, broken only by the crunch of dry autumn leaves beneath their boots and the faint, ocean breeze sweeping inland off the coast. As the forest thinned out, the sharp, salt-heavy scent of the sea hit them first, followed by the sight of Sandgem's quiet brick houses and the towering, slate-roofed structure of Professor Rowan's research lab standing near the shore.

The lab looked straight out of a mid-80s academic journal—heavy stone masonry, thick copper grounding wires running down the exterior walls, and a massive radio antenna lattice bolted to the roof that groaned faintly… The thing looked like it was hastily put together a few years ago an it probably was, in an attempt to catch his radio transmissions… This world was getting close to the modern age he was somewhat familiar with… This world was surprisingly innocent, but he would continue dragging it forward kicking and screaming.

Dawn pushed the heavy wooden front doors open, leading the way into a foyer packed with tall, dusty wooden bookshelves, row upon row of physical paper archives, and the steady, rhythmically loud clack-clack-clack of a typewriter echoing from the back room.

Sitting behind a massive oak desk stacked high with manila folders, leather-bound encyclopedias, and a steaming mug of black tea was Professor Rowan. He looked up, his sharp, thick eyebrows drawing down over stern eyes as he took off his reading glasses.

"Ah, Dawn," Rowan grunted, his deep, gravelly voice commanding instant attention. "You're back early. I assume you brought the field notes on local avian migratory patterns I asked for?"

"Uh, well..." Dawn rubbed the back of her neck, offering a weak, guilty smile. "It's not done yet but there is a new flock of Starely moving."

Rowan let out a low, rumbling hum in his chest, taking a slow sip from his mug of black tea before setting it back down on a leather coaster.

"Starly," he corrected automatically, his sharp eyes lingering on Dawn for a second longer before drifting over her shoulder. "Keep monitoring them. Migratory shifts are sensitive to atmospheric fluctuations—especially with the recent weather patterns coming off the mountains."

His gaze landed squarely on Ethan.

The old professor's bushy eyebrows pulled down into a deeper scowl as he took in the grease smudges near the hem of Ethan's coat, the scuffed work boots, and the remarkably healthy Eevee sitting comfortably on his shoulder. Rowan took off his reading glasses, letting them dangle from the black strap around his neck as he leaned back into his heavy leather chair.

"And who might this be?" Rowan asked, his gravelly voice echoing off the tall, paper-packed bookshelves. "You don't look like a local from Twinleaf, young man. You look like you just finished a shift in a regional maintenance shaft."

"Ethan," he replied smoothly, giving the professor a respectful nod. "Down from Celestic Town, sir."

Rowan paused, his sharp eyes narrowing with a sudden spark of recognition. "Celestic? Across Mt. Coronet on foot?" He leaned forward, resting his large, calloused hands flat on his oak desk. "Ethan... Cynthia's boy. Ah. That explains the grease. Cynthia mentioned in her last correspondence that you had a habit of poking around old regional infrastructure and taking apart heavy machinery."

"Vee," Eevee chirped softly from Ethan's shoulder, tilting her head at the towering academic.

Rowan leaned back, crossing his thick arms over his chest. "Cynthia also mentioned you have a sharp mind for mechanics. Tell me, Ethan—what brings someone from the ancient capital all the way down to a quiet Sandgem?"

"Just exploring the underground and ended up here." Ethan answers

"Underground tunnels from the war era are unstable, unmapped, and prone to structural collapses—not to mention wild Pokémon nesting in the dark," Rowan said, his gravelly voice dropping an octave as he leveled a strict, unyielding stare at Ethan. "Strength or no strength, a twelve-year-old shouldn't be wandering those tunnels alone."

Ethan kept his expression cool and unbothered, though a faint, amused twitch tugged at the corner of his lips. "I don't step into anything without inspecting the structural supports first, Professor. Besides, my Pokémon make sure the tunnels stay quiet."

"Vee-vee!" Eevee puffed out her chest, proudly agreeing from her perch on his shoulder.

Rowan let out a heavy, exasperated sigh, shaking his head. "You sound just like your aunt when she was your age—stubborn, overly ambitious, and entirely convinced safety guidelines don't apply to her. She insists you'll be standing on the Champion's podium before you turn twenty-two, but capability is no excuse for recklessness."

"Wait, hold on!" Dawn cut in, her head snapping between Rowan and Ethan with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Aunt?! Your aunt is Champion Cynthia?!"

Ethan turned his head slightly, giving Dawn a lazy side-eye. "I thought you were the expert on regional culture, music pirate. You didn't make the connection?"

"How was I supposed to connect a guy covered in machine grease who popped out of a bush to the Champion of the Sinnoh League?!" Dawn protested, her cheeks flushing pink again as she threw her hands up in the air. "And stop calling me a music pirate!"

"If the bootleg tape fits..." Ethan smirked, throwing his hands back into his jacket pockets.

Rowan cleared his throat with a sound like grinding stones, instantly cutting off the banter. Both kids snapped back to face the oak desk.

"That's enough," Rowan grunted, picking up a heavy fountain pen and making a quick notation in a ledger. "Ethan, regardless of your shortcuts, since you're here in Sandgem, you can make yourself useful while I prepare the regional starter allocations for this season's prospective trainers."

"Of course, Professor! What do you need my mechanical and electrical expertise on?" Ethan answers with a smile.

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

I sense mischief afoot. And Dawn the Music Pirate is funny