Jake sat out on the balcony of his room waiting for tomorrow to arrive. He was not a patient person. He couldn't wait until he finally got to leave for New Bark Town, and register to take on the Johto League. Jake propped his feet up on the balcony rail, and pulled his hat down low to block out the rising sun. He'd been asleep for five minutes when an explosion rocked the Pokemon Center. Jake jumped up and ran down stairs to find a mess. The blast had jarred the doors open that led to the recovery room; smoke poured through them into the waiting room where Jake was. "What was that?" Nurse Joy who had been behind the counter was calling the police. "I don't know!" "Rascal, let's check it out!" Jake yelled as he ran through the doors. The recovery room looked worse than the waiting room. Pokeballs were scattered everywhere, and three men in the back were loading everything they could grab onto a large truck. "Hey! Stop right there." The men stopped at the sound of Jake's voice. Out of the shadows came a large gray fist that connected with the left side of Jake's head. The men jumped in the truck, and shut the doors. Jake stood up and ran to the back of the truck, climbed on, and hung on for dear life. Rose had heard an explosion a block away, and ran to check it out. She had just entered the Pokemon Center when she heard tires squealing out in the front. When she got outside she could see a truck screaming down the road with Jake hanging off of the back. Behind her Jake's Luxray came running out of the building with Jake's hat in its mouth, and in one bound, leapt up on the rooftop of the nearest building and started running in the direction of the truck. "Go, Adrian." Rose had summoned her biggest and fastest pokemon, "I need a ride." Rose said climbing up on her back. "Follow that truck!" Jake had finally managed to pull himself up on the roof of the truck when the driver slammed on the brakes to stop for an old man and his cart, which were in the middle of the road. Jake, (unable to find a handhold) slid off the front of the truck and hit the cart. The truck once again sped away, but this time Jake didn't chase it after finding he'd dislocated his left shoulder. An Arcanine showed up just in time with Rose riding on it's back. "Climb on!" She yelled as the Arcanine came to a stop. Jake gave her his right hand, and she pulled him up behind her. The Arcanine started off again, and caught up with the truck in three bounds. "Adrian, use flamethrower on his right front wheel!" Arcanine unleashed a blast of fire into the right front of the truck. The truck's tire blew out and caused the truck to roll over, and skid on its side for hundreds of feet. Jake jumped off of Arcanine's back, and ran up to the truck, now joined by Rascal who had been keeping up on the rooftops. Jake took his hat from Rascal's mouth and said "Thank you." Then he turned and climbed up on the driver's side of the truck, which was now facing the sky. When he opened the door, the same gray fist as before came out of the cab, and connected with his lower jaw, only this time Jake saw his attacker. It was a Machamp. "Rascal, use thunder wave on Machamp!" Rascal unleashed a wave of electricity that shocked Machamp into submission. The driver kicked out the windshield and started to run, but Rose's Arcanine moved to block the road ahead of him; he was trapped. Sirens could be heard coming up the road, with Officer Jenny on her motorcycle in the lead. "The cavalry's comin' friend, why don't you give yourself up." Jake said trying to reason with him. "Because I'm gonna be rich!" the driver pulled out a small pellet and smashed it on the ground. A cloud of smoke filled the street, which nearly choked Jake and Rascal to death. They could hear him say: "What are you doing? Put me down!" When the smoke cleared he was being held up by the collar of his coat, in the mouth of Rose's Arcanine. "Good work." Jake said to the Arcanine. "Now if you'll excuse us, I've gotta see a doctor." "What for?" Rose asked Without turning around or stopping Jake said, "When I fell off that truck, I dislocated my shoulder." Rose was shocked, though now that she thought about it, she did notice he'd been favoring it since she picked him up back there. Jake stood in front of the counter as Nurse Joy explained the severity of his wounds. "Luckily, you didn't tear any ligaments or permanently damage any muscles but you are going to feel that for a couple days." She was thumbing through the X-rays of Jake's shoulder and arm, "I also would suggest you keep that on." She noticed he was trying to pull out of the sling that she'd put on him no more than ten minutes ago. Jake suddenly stopped and said in a very soft and quiet voice: "ooouuuccchhh" Nurse Joy looked at him for a moment and finally said: "Told ya." Jake went up stairs, and turned on the TV. He was just sitting down when he heard: "We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news coverage. We go now live to Kerrie Woods at the Olivine Pokemon Center. "Dave, the scene here was of utter chaos, as three masked men raided the Olivine Pokemon Center and took as many as six hundred pokemon. The truck, which the thieves used, was later found fifteen blocks away turned over on its side. Police apprehended two of the three thieves, and the third has been identified as Pierre Troudeau." Jake shut off the TV, "Well at least this time I didn't get in the news." He let out a sigh of relief as the phone on the stand by the bed rang. "Hello?" "Hey, partner." Ben answered Jake's answer. "Ben!" Jake almost yelled. "You heard about the attempted robbery?" "Yeah, that's partly the reason I'm coming back early." Ben said looking down at his bags. "I'm taking the magnet train to Goldenrod City, and then I'll take a car back to Olivine City." "Are you in the train station?" Jake asked. "Yeah, and I oughta be back around four o'clock." Ben said staring at the train as it pulled in. "Will we go to New Bark Town today then?" "No. Professor Elm won't be expecting us until tomorrow." Ben was listening for the call to board the train. "Hey, I gotta go, they're about to load the train." "All right, see you when you get here." Jake hung up the phone, and lay back on the bed. He tried once more to get his sling off, and this time managed it without hurting himself. He gave the sling back to Nurse Joy, and said "Please don't tell Ben about what I did this morning. I don't want him to worry." "He won't here it from me." She said with a nod and a smile. The rest of the afternoon was a blur for Jake. He slept most of the day, until Ben showed up with a letter from the Police Departments of Johto. It read: Dear Mr. Brooks, At the urging of Chief Benjamin Cane of the Olivine Police Department, you have been selected to play a role in the undercover investigation of the theft of pokemon during the duration of the Johto Pokemon League Conference while working in coordination with the police departments in the region, and the Pokemon Rangers We hope you will be able to uncover the identity of these thieves, and their employers Sincerely, James Cane Chief Indigo Plateau Police Dept. CJ "Cool, do I get a badge or somethin'?" Jake said after reading the letter. "You're not that lucky." Ben said to Jake who had a mischievous grin on his face. "Now tomorrow, when we go to the lab in New Bark Town, do you tell Professor Elm about your mission?" "No" "Do you tell that cute little redhead you've been hangin' out with lately?" "No" Jake thought for a moment, and then his jaw dropped. "What??" "Yes I know about Rose Blackthorn." Ben said looking down at Jake, who was sitting on the hood of Ben's car. "Now c'mon, we're going to get a bite to eat." "That's good. Where at?" Jake said wondering if he new about how the trouble started yesterday. "I know a place down by the docks." Ben said. Ben and Jake went down to the diner that Jake was very familiar with. As they sat down at the corner table that Rose sat in the day before, Jake could see all of the regulars turning to stare suspiciously. Jake pulled his hat down low so his eyes couldn't meet with anyone else's. "Jake, they're staring at us like we've got the plague or somethin'" Ben looked around. "What did you do?" "Well some guy stormed in here yesterday and challenged me. I'm sure you saw the battle on the news. Anyway he called Rascal and Lucario weak, so we had it out right outside of town." Jake explained himself as he reached out to grab a roll. Rascal, whom Ben hadn't noticed was still with them yawned, stretched and went back to sleep. "Jake, you gotta learn to keep your cool, buddy." Ben whispered. "A mean temper doesn't leave a good impression on strangers." "Yeah I know, it's something I gotta work on." Jake acknowledged. "I wasn't gonna tell you 'til tomorrow, but somebody told me, that Ash Ketchum is gonna be in New Bark Town tomorrow." Ben was staring at the table now. "Maybe if you wanna go meet him, we can." "Yeah, so I can be another groupie like everyone else? No thanks Ben." Jake replied with a hint of sarcasm. "It was just a thought, since you're gonna have to meet him anyway." Ben said with an "as a matter of fact" kind of tone. "Why am I gonna have to meet him anyway?" Jake asked. "Because he's gonna be in the pokemon lab there. He's just gotten back from the Sinnoh Region, and Professor Oak sent him on an errand." "Wonderful!" Jake said sarcastically. "Well as long as I don't have to get his autograph or anything like that." "That's all I ask." Ben said with a smile. "Hey Ben, I know your gonna find out sooner or later, and I'd rather you found out from me." Jake said thinking. "What's that?" "I helped stop the truck that robbed the Pokemon Center." Jake confessed. "I kinda figured that." Ben said. "And you're not mad 'cause I put my life in danger?" Jake looked puzzled. "Your old man was a cop once. I knew you would pull the same kind of heroics he would've." Ben paused for a second. "I also know that I couldn't stop you if I wanted to." Somewhere in the Orange Islands. One of the thieves from the Pokemon Center heist stood in front of an older man sitting behind a desk in an old office building. "I don't know what to tell ya boss. That kid is a lot stronger than you thought." He said pleading to keep his job. The man behind the desk leaned forward out of the shadows. He was an older man in his late sixties, his hair was snow white, and he had a goatee. "You've done well. You weren't supposed to succeed, you were just baiting the hook." He said in an old, but evil voice. "And now the only thing left to do is sink the catch." As the thug left, the old man turned around to look at his Luxray. "Well Luxray, everything is on schedule. If I can't make Brooks suffer, I'll make his son suffer. And he'll pay for what happened to you." The Luxray stepped out of the shadows to reveal a scar over the left of his golden gleaming eyes.