The storm lasted for two days, which was a lot longer than I had wanted it to, but shorter than it could have been.

According to Ted, the monsoon season in Hoenn lasted for months, depending on the year, stretching from mid-May or early June all the way through July.

It made a lot of sense when I had taken another look at the map of the world.

The Pokémon world was… weird in its interpretation of geography, especially in the early days of the games and the anime. Things like Raichu having enough electricity to knock out an Indian elephant, or notably traces of Mew having been found in the jungles of South America.

Guyana, if I remembered correctly.

Obviously, those early discrepancies were due to a lack of understanding of what exactly Pokémon would become - the largest media franchise in the entire world. Here in the Pokémon world itself, things were a little different.

Instead of being a direct 1:1 copy of Earth, the Pokémon world was more Earth-adjacent.

Honestly, it looked a little bit like somebody had taken a globe and smudged things a little.

There were similar landmasses to that of Earth, but none that were a direct copy. Galar being “like” the British Isles, Unova being “like” New York, or Kalos being “like” France.

The most notable set of locations for me, however, was the archipelago where most of the games were located.

In my world it was known simply as “Japan,” but it wasn’t unified here, and was known as the “Four Islands” - not to be mistaken for Four Island in the Sevii Island archipelago.

Hoenn, Johto, Kanto, Kitakami, and Sinnoh made up the major regions of the archipelago, with a bunch of smaller territories scattered in between them. They were organized in that order from a loose south to north arc, covering a decent chunk of land all-together.

Kitakami was an interesting region to me, considering I didn’t actually know all that much about it. I had heard the name, of course, as part of the new DLC for Scarlet and Violet, but I had been transported here before actually having a chance to play it.

Apparently, Kitakami was pretty mountainous and rural, without much going for it. It didn’t have a Pokémon League or any Gyms, and mostly was involved in agriculture, so most people I had seen online didn’t consider it a “proper” region.

I did know enough about Japanese geography to know that Hoenn, however, was based on the island of Kyushu, a region in the real world notable for how much rainfall it got.

The way Ted described it, it rained pretty much constantly for the late spring and early summer.

The area around Route 120, a location I knew well from the games, were confirmed by him to get rain almost every week, if not every day, and only escaped the deluge in the drier “winter” months. Of course it didn’t actually get cold or snow down there, being much more tropical, but I supposed it was the principle of the thing.

I shuddered to think about that much rain, and thanked Jirachi again that it had dropped me off in Sinnoh, where it was much drier and colder.

Regardless of how long the rain lasted overall, I was thoroughly miserable by the end of it.

As much as I would have loved to stay in my tent for the entire time, that just wasn’t practical, and each time I stepped outside to make some food, use the restroom, or simply stretch my legs I was instantly soaked.

It got so bad that during the night, I swore that I would get myself a Fire-type Pokémon to help dry me out when I realized that all of my socks were soaked.

Zetian was able to help some by using her wings to dry things out, and once the rain had finally let up Rakkyo used his Flamethrower to dry out both mine and Ted’s clothes.

Using a Flamethrower like a hair dryer wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, but we managed to get the water out of our clothes.

Once the rain had finally stopped, Ted and I got back on the road, which was when we saw the truck.

/^\

“What do you think happened?” I asked as we stared at the ruined white flatbed truck.

It was pretty obvious what had happened, but I was more asking to make conversation than anything else.

We hadn’t gotten far down the road towards Eterna City when the signs of the accident had appeared.

At first it was just some tire marks on the road, long black lines where somebody had slammed on the brakes.

Then a few hundred feet past that, deep divots had been dug into the wet earth on the side of the road. Ted and I had followed the path out of concern to find the flatbed truck wrapped around the side of a tree.

“Driver probably got distracted,” Ted said, shaking his head as he poked at the shattered glass of the driver’s side window. “Lost control of the car thanks to the water on the road and spun out.”

He shivered. “That’s why you’ll never see me driving. Those things are death traps, I’ll take flying with Rakkyo any day.”

“Wait, you don’t know how to drive?”

“Nope. You do?”

He seemed genuinely surprised, and I was feeling the same.

“Yeah, back home you couldn’t really get anywhere without driving.”

“Eugh. I’m feeling a little bit less of an urge to visit now if I’m being honest.”

That, I thought. Is entirely fair.

“So wait, if you know how to drive, why are you asking me what happened?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t know that you didn’t know how to drive.”

“Ah. You got me there. Do you think the driver is okay then?”

Frowning, I came around the side of the car to where he was looking at the door. It wasn’t in good shape at all, the metal torn and twisted, and the window had been completely shattered.

“I think so.” I said after a minute. “I don’t see any blood or anything and the seatbelt hasn’t been cut. I’m not a crash investigator, but considering the fact that nobody’s here, I’m inclined to say that they managed to get out in one piece.”

It was Ted’s turn to frown as he looked around the ditch the car was in.

“But if they weren’t hurt too badly, where did they go?”

Something about the truck was itching at the back of my mind, it seemed familiar for some reason. It looked like any generic truck that I had ever seen; dirty white paint, a tarp covering the contents of the bed, dried mud all over the body.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

If not for the fact that a tree was occupying the place where the engine should have been, it would have been completely unremarkable.

So why does it seem so familiar?

“Maybe they got knocked on the head,” I said, trying to answer Ted’s question. “Got confused and wandered off into the woods? Or maybe we aren’t the first ones here and they were taken to the hospital?”

“Shouldn’t the truck have been taken away then?”

“If Sinnoh is anything like home, it might take a couple of days if it’s not a priority. Tow trucks might be needed somewhere else, especially after that storm.”

Ted hummed at that. “I’m going to call the police, let them know that there’s been a crash. If they already heard about it, that’s fine, but I want to be sure.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” I said, as Ted wandered back to the road to get a better signal.

While he was calling the police, I continued to poke around the crash site, unable to stop the feeling that I should know this truck for some reason.

My eyes kept cutting back to the tarp over the bed of the truck, and the boxy objects that were under there.

Ted was busy explaining the crash to somebody on the phone, and my curiosity got the better of me.

The ground was still wet and muddy, and if not for the thick leather of my boots they would have been completely ruined by now. It was a bit of a challenge to get to a place where I could lift up the tarp, but as soon as I did so my blood ran cold.

“Son of a bitch.” I swore.

A series of familiar cages were tossed about the bed of the truck. They were all empty, although the doors to a few of them had obviously been destroyed, the metal looking like it had been melted.

I knew where I had seen this truck before.

Kane.

/^\

“Professor! I’ve been trying to reach you for ages!”

“Alina,” Rowan’s voice sounded tired. “What’s going on? I’m in the middle of-”

“It’s Kane!”

He was silent for a long minute on the other side of the phone, and I was wondering if he had heard me.

“Tell me more.”

“It’s his truck! Ted and I are just outside of Eterna City, there was a big storm and his truck went off of the road.”

“Ted?”

“Professor Birch’s assistant. I can’t get in touch with Commissioner Jenny, do you think you could get her to send some people our way? Some of those Ace Trainers, the ones that work for the League? Maybe you could get Gardenia down here? Her Grass-types could probably find him faster!”

“Wait, Theodore Sering? How did you two… never mind, it’s not important right now. Are you sure it’s Kane’s truck?”

“Yes!” I nearly shouted into the speaker as I paced along the side of the road. “I’d recognize it anywhere! It has the cages, the same damn cages!”

“Alina-”

“You need to call Commissioner Jenny, we need to catch him! He couldn’t have gotten far on foot!”

“Alina!”

I stopped at the snap in his voice.

“I think you’re having a panic attack.”

“No I’m not.”

Was I?

I felt entirely justified in feeling so panicked, this was Kane after all.

“Where’s Venus?”

“I… she’s in her Poké Ball. I don’t want her to see the cages again.”

“You need to let her out.”

“Didn’t you just hear what I said? I can’t… she….”

“Alina,” Rowan’s voice was a lot softer this time. “You need to let her out. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

My mind hesitated, but my hand betrayed me and went for the red and white ball at my waist. With a flash of light, Venus stood before me.

She froze as she looked at me, then without hesitation, jumped.

Even though she was still smaller than the average Eevee, Venus had gained some weight and muscle from the first time we had met. Ten pounds of fluffy Pokémon launching herself at me knocked me onto my rear.

Luckily, I had splurged on fancy Spinarak silk clothes and I had trimmed Venus’ claws the night before; otherwise, I’m sure my clothes would have been ripped as she scrambled up my body.

My clothes were covered in mud from sitting on the ground, but I couldn’t care as Venus stretched across my shoulders, wrapping me up in her thick fur.

I don’t know how long we sat there like that, my entire body shaking as I desperately tried to get my breathing under control. Venus would lick my face every now and again, and it was all I could do to stroke her fur.

Eventually, I calmed down, and Venus hopped down from my shoulders into my lap so I could more easily pet her.

A quiet, tinny voice came out from somewhere, and it took me a second to find my phone laying in the mud, the call with Professor Rowan still going.

“Hi Professor.” I said, a bit miserably as I picked up the phone. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Relief was clear in his voice. “It’s good to know that you’re feeling better, at least for now. I’ve never heard you like that before.”

I ran a hand down my face, feeling like a wrung out rag.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had a panic attack like that. I’m really sorry if I scared you, it’s just… it’s the cages.”

“I understand.” He said, in the way people did when they didn’t really understand, but were trying their best to.

I appreciated it, even if it rang a little hollow.

“While you were… recovering… I had George call young Theodore.”

Looking over, I saw Ted shooting worried glances my way while talking on his phone.

“I explained the basics of the situation to him, and gave him the number for Commissioner Jenny. If everything is going to plan, he should be talking with her now so she can start putting together a response. Hopefully some Trainers and Rangers from Eterna City should be there shortly.”

“But what about Kane in the meantime?” I asked, feeling my heart start to pick up again.

The thought that he was still out there, that he was still capturing Pokémon and holding them against their will was both infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time.

Venus, bless her, picked up on this, and batted at my hand with her paw until I started to pet her again, dragging my attention away from the emotions welling up in my chest.

“Kane can wait.” Rowan said, although I heard more than a little bitterness in his voice. “He’s escaped justice for this long, he can wait a little bit longer. If you two go haring off without anybody else there, things could turn ugly.”

As much as I hated it, as much as every fiber of my being demanded that I go right now and hunt Kane down so he couldn’t hurt anybody else… I knew that Rowan was right.

Waiting for help was the best course of action. Neither Ted nor I knew the area, and there was a very good chance that we could get in trouble, or even hurt. Then the Rangers and other Trainers would have something else to worry about.

Despite everything that I was telling myself, the words did nothing to make the pill I had to swallow any less bitter.

“Okay.” I bit out, then sighed. “Okay. We’ll wait. I’m guessing that-”

A loud crack, followed shortly afterwards by a crash, cut me off. It sounded like a large tree falling to the ground, and my head whipped around to stare deeper into the woods.

The trees here weren’t officially part of the Eterna Woods, but they were still dense enough to block wherever the sound had come from.

“Alina what was that?”

“I don’t know professor, something just… exploded? Fell down?”

“Stay there, you hear me?”

“What if somebody’s hurt?”

Ted was talking excitedly to somebody on the other end of his phone, and with his other hand he pulled a Poké Ball off his waist, releasing Rakkyo.

Venus was staring up at me, her ears perked up and swiveling slightly as if to catch every sound she could.

I looked deep into her brown eyes, and saw a burning resolve there. She had been in those cages just as much as I had, and I felt the connection between us for a brief second.

“Alina, just wait for the police, they’ll be there soon.”

I moved my gaze over to Ted, who was staring out at the woods with excitement and a touch of predatory glee, a wolf who had gotten a smell of his prey.

He looked over at me and despite my apprehension, I nodded.

“I’m sorry Professor, but I have to go. You’d do the same thing if you were in my place.”

A heavy sigh echoed through the phone’s speaker.

“I know I would, and that’s what I’m afraid of. I’ll get in touch with Commissioner Jenny and explain about Kane. Please, please be safe.”

“I’ll try. I’ll talk to you later.”

I hung up and put the phone into my pocket, carefully standing up with Venus in my arms.

“I only got a brief description.” Ted said. “Kane, poacher, likes Dark-types?”

“Last time I ran into him, he had a Mightyena and a Houndoom. The Houndoom should be being treated by the Rangers or the Aether Foundation as a rescue, but he still had his Mightyena.”

“How strong is it?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Wasn’t in a good position to check last time, but it took out the Houndoom.”

Poor Havoc, I hope he was doing well.

“Then again, that was almost three months ago. I don’t know if he’s gotten any other Pokémon since then, but from his poaching habits I’d say he likes rare Pokémon as well.”

“That’s what Commissioner Jenny said as well. Apparently he’s been recorded as having been seen with a Rhydon.”

I gulped, but nodded. “We should be able to handle that, right?”

Ted smiled, baring his teeth. “Let’s find out.”