Cris crept slowly forward on all fours. His eyes fixated on his target in front of him. Ever so slowly, he pulled out the Pokeball that Bliss gave him and silently aimed at the unsuspecting Ralts a few berry bushes ahead. Bliss was somewhere to his left and was also deathly silent. In a quick movement, Cris chucked the Pokeball in the Ralts' direction.

But when he was about to let go of the ball, his sleeve got caught on one of the branches of the bush beside him which caused the whole thing to get pulled to the side and then suddenly pull back to its original shape, making the loudest rustling of leaves that a bush could ever make.

With a startled expression, the Ralts dropped the berry it was eating and teleported away. Cris let out a frustrated yell. That was the fifth time they found a Ralts but wasn't quick and stealthy enough to able to catch it.

They started at first by just slowly approaching the Ralts and throwing the Pokeball at it. But as they learned the hard way, Ralts tend to just teleport away the moment they see people or any sign of danger. Then after that, they moved on to trying to battle it, but again, they were still too slow for it.

This happened again and again for some time now, that it was late morning already. Cris had planned to resume their travelling to Sapphire City earlier that morning, but little did he or Bliss know about the struggles of catching a Ralts. Finding one wasn't too difficult, but catching one certainly was.

His friend approached him and knelt down to where he was on the ground. "That one was so close too. C'mon Cris, I'll catch that Ralts for you. You can take a break from crawling through all these plants and shrubs.

Cris just shook his head stubbornly and replied, "No, I need to be the one to catch this Ralts, since I am the one that's gonna train it to be a big strong Gallade to fight alongside my Lucario and me." Bliss sighed at her friend's ridiculous, but admirable, determination. She said, "Well, then I guess we should just come back here later in the day."

Cris looked at her in confusion, "What do you mean 'come back'?" Bliss explained, "You've forgotten that we are out of food and I want to sleep in a bed tonight, so I thought we should go to Sapphire City to restock, refuel, and then reserve some rooms for tonight." He looked up at her from his position then stood up.

He dusted himself off and sighed, "Yeah, I guess it's only logical to get to the city already. Come on Lucario." Cris gestured to Lucario to signal that they were going to head for the city.

The rest of the trip to Sapphire City was a peaceful and calming walk as Cris cleared his mind from the frustrations of trying to catch such an elusive Pokemon. They walked in silence, like they usually do since Cris wasn't close enough with his new travelling companion, Bliss.

Then Bliss broke the silence and the slowly growing tension by saying, "I wonder what kinds of Pokemon we'll get to see in Sapphire City. I've known all of the wild Pokemon from back home in Quartz City for my whole life. What about you? Do you have other kinds of Pokemon back home?"

Cris shook his head, "Nope. My village is close to Quartz City. All the Pokemon we found there were also in the city. I was so overwhelmed with how much new Pokemon I was seeing in the wilds near the city when I first got there with Riolu."

Bliss nodded and replied, "Yeah, it's kind of amazing at first. But when you get to live there for all your life... It kind of gets boring, then you'd wanna leave to go on adventures just like what I'm doing."

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing so many Pokemon. Even if they're the same kinds over and over again. They're just so fascinating and wonderful that I want to be with them for the rest of my life." Cris said, allowing for just a little of his inner self to show in his words while chatting with Bliss.

After that, they both fell silent again, saving their breath for the last stretch of walking they had to do. When they finally came into view of a distant brightly lit opening of trees, they knew that was the exit from Stone Forest, and the outskirts of Sapphire City.

As soon as they saw it, they both started racing towards the opening, with Lucario and Gardevoir hurrying after their trainers. Cris was sprinting through the dirt path, expertly dodging and weaving through some bushes and roots that poked into the walkway.

Bliss was right next to him, keeping up just fine because of the adrenaline rush she was getting. They burst through the opening of Stone Forest and into the alarmingly bright late morning sky. They kept running and eventually slowed down to a jog after a short distance away from the forest entrance on Sapphire City's side.

Lucario and Gardevoir had fallen behind, and only now were seen coming out of the forest, wheezing and panting from the sudden sprint race. The two trainers laughed as their partner Pokemon sank to the ground in an exhausted heap beside them.

"Wow. I never ran like that in my life!" Bliss said breathlessly, still feeling the rush of the race.

Cris took deep breaths, "Lucario and I used to run like that when we were making our way to Quartz City. Of course, we were running from hordes of wild Pokemon and definitely not having a race."

His friend laughed at this, then immediately regret it as she was still out of breath. The two of them stood there for a while with their hands on their knees, their Pokemon already recovered and at their side.

"I can see the entrance gates to the city from here!" Cris said excitedly, gaining his breath again. They started making their way towards the gates.

Cris' thoughts were running wild in his head. He started to feel unsure of what they were doing. Maybe it was a mistake coming here. Will Lucario be okay with the noise of festivals practically everyday? Should I buy Lucario some ear plugs? I should buy it some earmuffs when we get to the shops. Was that the sound of a mob? Or was that a happy crowd of talented people enjoying a festival?

Cris beat his worries into the back of his mind before he started getting lost in his own head. He had to feel hopeful about every opportunity that came his way. He wasn't about to head back into the forest and end up running all the way back to Quartz City and into the room in the Pokemon Center he stayed at just to feel safe.

Cris wasn't a fan of change, but he had to leave his village if he wanted to seize the opportunities that lied around him, waiting just outside his humble home. He squared his shoulders as they approached the gate just a short distance in front of them.

Then out of nowhere, Bliss said unexpectedly, "Uhh Cris? You alright? You look like you were going through a midlife crisis at like, what, sixteen?" He sputtered, "Wh-what? What would that even look like? And also.... I'm not that old yet."

Bliss made a face with excessive eyebrow furrowing plus the concerned look of a hundred parents to imitate what he looked like. Cris burst out laughing and Bliss joined in, unable to hold her impression any longer.

"Stars above, I looked horrible." Bliss agreed, "Yeah, if I didn't know any better, you looked like you were overthinking something. Are you worried about something?"

Cris just brushed the question aside and said, "Hey look, we're here! First one to find a Pokemon Center gets the bigger room!" Cris started running again, only to abruptly stop when he saw the deserted sapphire-colored streets.

Bliss ran to where he was and saw the empty streets. She said, "I thought they held festivals everyday? Why does it look like they evacuated the city?" Cris wondered that too. Had he heard wrong? Was it another city that was all festive and loud?

The two of them wandered around the eerily quiet roads. There wasn't even the sound of faraway vehicles and trains. All Cris heard was the daring caws and crows of overhead flying Pokemon. "If Sapphire City isn't the talented, overly-loud city we thought it was, then which one is it?" Bliss wondered.

Cris was too preoccupied with looking into the windows of some houses and buildings. Trying to see if there was anyone inside. To his astonishment, he found several people in each of the houses, and even a few inside the ground floor of business buildings.

Cris pointed this out to Bliss. "Whoah, so they didn't leave the city. But... what are they doing?"

They looked like they were going about their usual jobs and chores, but some of them looked stuck. Like they wanted to be anywhere except where they were now.

When Cris neared one of the office buildings, the people who looked like they wanted to leave saw him, quickly got up and went to the doors and windows of the building. He called to them, "Is something wrong? Why are you all in there?" Some of them pounded and tapped on the windows, trying to signal something.

When none of their messages got through, a man typed something on his phone and pressed it against the glass.

'You are not supposed to be out there.' the message on the phone read.

Cris beckoned for his friend to read the man's message. Bliss made a 'why not' kind of shrug at the people behind the window. The man with the phone erased his previous message and typed something else on it.

He pressed it to the glass again and Cris read it out loud. " 'Orders of GEODE INC. Failure to stay indoors leads to arrests and punishments.' " The man then wrote a new message and showed it to them.

This time Bliss read the words, " 'All the festivals planned for the next few weeks are cancelled until GEODE INC. is finished with their investigation.' Ohh I see, so we are in festival-city after all." Cris read over the message one more time and said, "What's GEODE INC.? Do you know anything about them?"

Bliss just shook her head, "No, I've been living in Quartz City my whole life and I've never heard of them before." Just as the man was typing in another message, the two trainers heard a yip from behind.

Cris turned to see a Yamper barking at them.

As soon as Bliss saw it, she squealed, "Oooh you are so cute. Do you have your twainer awound here somewhere? Or are you just a wittle wild Pokemon and you want me to catch you?" Cris' Lucario let out a quick and sharp bark, communicating with the Yamper.

After an exchange of short yips, barks and growls, Lucario pointed with its paw in the direction of a street at the end of the road, then started walking towards it. Cris easily understood that Lucario was leading them somewhere.

"Bliss, let's follow Lucario, it looks like it found something." Together they followed Cris' partner Pokemon with the Yamper walking beside it. As they reached the end of the road, which led to an intersection splitting into new roads left and right, Lucario rounded the bend on the left road. Bliss was the first to notice the other boy standing right at the corner behind the building and she gave a yelp of surprise.

The boy hushed her immediately and put a finger over his mouth to signal silence.

He was a bit taller than them but looked to be also their age. He was wearing some dark blue pants, a velvet-colored jacket, a pair of black sneakers, and an extra long, brown trench coat that covered most of what he wore.

The boy beckoned for them to follow him into a dark alleyway. He's out here in the open too, just like us. Should we trust him? Cris thought, then he glanced at his Lucario. If Lucario trusts him, I guess we'll be fine.

Just when they started following him, they heard the marching of dozens of boots and Pokemon coming from the road they were just on. The boy in the trench coat signaled for them to move faster, then he started running silently. They ran after him but in a less quiet fashion.

The sound of heavy footsteps behind them grew closer then Cris heard someone yell, "Hey! You're not allowed out here! Freeze!" None of them listened. The three kids bolted past roads and narrow alleys, making lefts and rights until Cris felt lost in a maze of tall buildings and dead ends.

The guards (at least that's what Cris thought they were) pursued them, their Pokemon growling and barking and hissing menacingly, but eventually they lost track of Cris and the others. The boy finally slowed down and stopped at a dead end.

Well, Cris thought it was a dead end, until the mysterious kid tapped on a few stones on the wall in an intricate pattern which opened up the wall that led to a long tunnel angling downwards.

He beckoned for them to follow again, this time making an innocent and welcoming face to make Cris and his friend less suspicious of him. He disappeared into the tunnel, then Cris started to follow.

He felt someone grab him by the arm. It was Bliss. "I don't think we should trust him. I think we should have just explained ourselves to those guards."

Cris pulled his arm away gently from Bliss' grip and said, "Well, Lucario seems to trust him. I guess I trust him too." He didn't wait for a response and started hurrying into the tunnel, thinking it might close up on him and he would be trapped out in the open. Lucario was right beside him as he entered the dark tunnel.

Bliss followed a few seconds later, holding on to her Gardevoir's arm. Together they steadily descended into the dark, the only thing they saw was the faint light at the exit of the tunnel. It smelled like metal and wet cement to Cris. If he had to guess, they were close to the piping system of the city all the way underground.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, it was an underwhelming sight. Cris thought he'd find a grand high tech hideout after the secret tunnel entrance and all that, but instead what he saw was much smaller and simpler.

It looked more like the inside of a treehouse, but loaded from top to bottom with so much techy looking stuff. The area was only around as large as the room Cris had back at Quartz City. The boy pulled off his trench coat and hung it on a small hook on the wall.

When he spoke, he sounded younger than Cris, much to his surprise. "Didn't you hear the news about Sapphire City? You guys could've gotten arrested."

Cris replied, "We were just travelling through Stone Forest yesterday, spent the night there, then got here around noon. What happened? I thought Sapphire City was vibrant and happy, not... whatever it is now."

Before answering, Bliss interrupted, "Introductions first, big important backstory later. I'm Bliss, and this is my partner Gardevoir."

Cris said, "Oh right, of course. I'm Cris, and Lucario here is my partner."

The boy introduced himself, "My name's Azrick, you can just call me Az. My partner is Bisharp."

This caught Cris unexpectedly. "Wait. Then who's Pokemon is this Yamper?" He said while pointing at the happy-looking Yamper.

Az chuckled, "Oh right. Yamper's kind of like my whole family's Pokemon. My Bisharp is.... not here right now."

"Did something happen to your partner?" Bliss asked curiously. Az looked really sad as she said 'partner'. It was Cris' turn to interrupt this time, "Uh why don't you tell us about what's happening Az?"

Az took a deep breath and began explaining, "The group called GEODE INC. used to be a helpful partner of Sapphire City. Helping us finish building houses, providing us with supplies when we ran out of it, you know, that kind of stuff. But then something changed. It happened a few months ago when GEODE INC. stopped agreeing to fund city projects like our festivals, then they officially announced that they and Sapphire City were no longer partners. But that was only the beginning. Lots of other bad stuff started happening as soon as GEODE INC. left our city. Fast forward to right now, they sent a lot of guards which were extremely skilled Pokemon Trainers to force us into any nearby building then locked us in."

At this point in Az's story, he seemed like he was getting to a more personal part of it. Both Cris and Lucario could feel it. He held back his watery eyes from letting tears flow.

With a heavy breath, he continued, "Some of the people and trainers tried to resist, but instead of forcing them into a building.... they were arrested and... and t-taken away." Az couldn't hold himself together anymore and he started to let the tears out.

He sobbed softly into his jacket sleeves, unable to continue. Cris sat beside him and gave him an awkward hug, which comforted Az anyway. Lucario helped too, using its Aura to project a calming feeling to help ease Az's sadness.

Bliss joined in and took the sobbing boy's hands. "Hey, it's alright. You don't have to keep telling us what happened if it's too painful." Bliss said soothingly. The three of them sat there in silence once the crying stopped.

Az pulled away from them and said, "Thanks. I really needed someone to be with right about now. I've only been alone for a week. I don't know where my family is. My father, he's an architect working for the city, tried to protect me by battling the Pokemon Trainer Guards when they came, but they were too strong for him. They took him, his Pokemon, and my Bisharp."

"I managed to escape into this hidden bunker. My grandfather built it, he was an engineer. When he first heard of the strange things going on with GEODE INC., he started making secret hiding places with his Diggersby in case something bad happened. He told me and my family about them but we didn't exactly take him seriously at the time. But when the elite Trainer Guards came... I'm just glad I got to escape into this bunker with Yamper."

The Yamper whimpered softly and placed its head on Az' lap. Cris felt extremely sad and horrible, and Bliss looked like she was gonna start bawling herself.

What happened to GEODE INC? They can't get away with this! We've gotta do something about them. How do we even stop them? We're just three kids. Like always, Cris' mind was spiralling. But this time, he had a purpose for thinking all those thoughts.

He knew what he had to do. Cris stood up and offered his hand to Az. "We'll help you get your family back. I promise we will do everything we can to stop GEODE INC." Cris looked at his friend, Bliss, then back at Az with a fiery determination, "I'm sure of it."