Pokemon: The Wandering Guardian

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6 months later

Professor Birch currently driving a truck towards the southern edge of a desert off of route 111. Lan was sleeping in the passenger seat One of the gym leaders informed the Old man that there was a group of Pokemon acting bizarrely for the past couple of months.

Birch "So…"

Lan: 'He is so bad with small talk'

Birch: " So I want to ask you about something. When Mudkip left you said you wanted to help with research for a couple of years… have you thought about a topic you wanted to dive into?"

Lan: "Well I want to research Pokemon grouping relationsh.i.p.s in conjunction with personalities"

Birch: "Tough Subject but with this topic, you will have to travel a good bit. In addition to meeting and conversing with various people from different regions and different professions … which sometimes I know you dread"

Lan: "…" 'It's not my fault I just get annoyed with people that are petty and feel that they are entitled to everything'

Birch: "Well don't let it bother you too much. You seem to have an affinity with Pokemon but sadly that doesn't seem to help you with people"

Lan: "Well I just don't have the motivation to deal with anything other than Pokemon and developing my cooking. You know what, I don't care about what others think of me"

There was an awkward silence for a while, we started to enter the desert area. I put on my goggles and start to look around. Sandshrew and Sandslash were building burrows everywhere. Small groups of little orange Pokemon popping up all around the vehicle. They created many dunes of various sizes. I have read about them and they're named Trapinch and are one of the reasons not many vehicles are used in this desert is due to the sheer amount of them.

Birch drove deeper into the desert toward the location where the report indicated.

Arriving at the scene we did not see anything out of the ordinary like the report dictated.

Birch: "Lan, why don't you head south to that large dune and look around while Ill head a little north and check on things there."

Lan: "Sure. Let me know I'll alert you over the com network. I want to see if I can plot the coordinates of some movements of Pokemon groups here."

Lan walked for about 10 min until he arrived at the top of a large dune. He pulled out his range finder trying started to scan the area for Pokemon groups. He plotted movements of multiple species for about an hour. He looked down and shook his canteen finding that it was almost empty.

All of a sudden the wind started to pick up and a large dust cloud entered his vision. He pressed the com network alert button to notify Professor Birch that something was happening.

Lan observed through the range finder but could only see what seemed to be a large top spinning while a large shadow was on top of its head.

Minutes later Birch arrived with the vehicle and Lan described the scene. They traveled in that direction until they saw something completely abnormal.

There was a golden Swablu was roosted on top of the head a Pokemon that was spinning. While a whole flock of Altaria and Swablu were circling overhead.

Birch took out a camera and started to film while nodding at me to help settle this fiasco. Lan had solved many different disputes at the lab and the professor knew this.

[Lan POV]

I slowly approached the two Pokemon not minding the sand that I was getting in my shoes. The Altarias noticed me from far above but stared at me with no malice in their gaze.

"Man how do I get myself in these situations I have a cold sweat on my back from those Altarias"

As I approached I can feel pressure on me and it kept rising as I was getting closer to the two Pokemon. When I was within about 20 steps of the two pokemon I paused.

I whisper out loud "Baltoy" .

The Baltoy and the Swablu seemed to notice my presence because one opened its eyes and the other stopped spinning.

'Both of these Pokemon had different colorations than which I have learned from the books and the internet. The Baltoy had yellow-green markings and the Swablu was a dark yellow almost a gold color.' I quickly toss that out of my head.

I speak " Hello my name is Lan. I don't have any intentions. I just want to know if you need help or anything"

As if they could feel my good intentions they both moved slowly towards me and stopped when they were about an arms length away. I notice a thin net trapping the two Pokemon together.

"… Some people are so cunning and daring."

I reach out and try to unravel the net. It seemed to have small barbs which were clasped onto the Ballot and Swablu. I fiddle with them while both of them wince with pain. I slipped a little bit and slice my finger. Some of the blood flowed out and dripped on the Baltoy. Finally, I unraveled the net and pull the net of both of the Pokemon.

Once free the Swablu spread its wings which looked soft and fluffy sparkled and the blowing sand hitting me in the face died down. It hopped to my head and nestled and seemed to curl up to go to sleep.

" Do I make everyone drowsy when around me?" I mumble not understanding the personality of the Swablu further remembering my tendencies to take naps in random places.

I turned to leave after patting the Baltoy on its head and walked back to the truck.

The Swablu was still on my head when I got back to the truck.

Suddenly a Huge Golden Altaria that seemed about double the size of the other ones cried out making the surrounding noise in the desert die down.

"ALTARIA!"

The Swablu on my head woke up and looked at me with questioning eyes as if it was contemplating something. It then jumped off my head and flying back to the flock looking back a couple of times. The flock flew out of sight. I somehow felt a familiar sense of loss.

[3rd Person POV]

Birch: Tossing a Pokeball too Lan said: "Turn Around".

Lan turns and sees the previously trapped Baltoy. It had followed Lan without him noticing. Lan looked down in one hand he had a Pokeball in the other he had the rest of the net. Kind of frowning a bit saying "I do not want to catch it".

Birch frowns trying to see what's is wrong, then gets out of the truck and calmly approaches the Pokemon and asks "Baltoy do you want to come with us?"

"Bal-Toy!! Toy!!" Lan sensed its happy emotions vaguely radiating from it.

Birch smiled and placed another Pokeball on the head of it and it turned into red light. The ball twitched for a sec then clicked. Indicating that it was caught.

Lan "Professor look what I found that seemed to tangle those two Pokemon"

Birch " It seems like there are poachers in the desert. It might be why we have received the reports" and he shakes his head.

Both Lan and Professor Birch get back into the truck. The trip out of the desert was silent as both of them were contemplating things.

…

Over the next month, the Professor and his assistants ventured into the desert to track the Pokemon trying to pinpoint any unnatural occurrences. Not seeming to find anything out of the ordinary since the ballot incident. Most of the Researchers were able to make breakthroughs in their research due to this exhibition.

Lan learn that this Baltoy was described by others as a shiny and was most likely kicked out by its colony because of its different color scheme. He contemplated the difference between the group led by the golden Altaria vs the exile of the Baltoy. Amidst the expedition, he noted all the migratory patterns of various species. He also took note of the nonnative Pokemon that showed up in the desert once in a while. All of Lan's theories, field observations of migratory patterns, personalities and various behaviors were recorded in detail in Lan's journal.

The research team ended the exhibition and returned to the lab. Birch applied for Lan's official research identification so that he can apply for publishing his journals and have access to more data concerning his research.

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4 years later

Lan Birch became one of the up and coming experts in the Research field in the Hoenn region.

His Research made waves in the Research and trainer community analyzing the different social hierarchy of Pokemon and their interactions in and outside of their natural community.

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