Author’s note - for your… entertainment, in every chapter (bar the prologue), there is a ‘pastry/pastry-related item’ to find! It’s a little thing that I’ve done for the sake of it… Anyway, here we delve into the intricacies of the Outskirt Stand - a train of all things - everyone’s favourite pink-haired trainer Willie and the duo Folly and Trudly - how dumb can they be? Read on to find out! Chapter 1 - A New Beginning After driving around the desert for a few hours, trying to figure out the controls of the Zoomer After driving around the desert for a few hours, trying to figure out the controls of the Zoomer (which wasn’t helped by Espeon and Umbreon trying the chew the controls), Wes finally managed to get the Zoomer travelling in a straight line. After the recent event, Wes felt… free. Free from Team Snagem. Free from having to sneak around towns to steal Pokemon. Free from the guilt he felt whenever he had to hand in a Pokemon that he knew would end up becoming a shadow Pokemon. Free from Gonzap’s ugly face. And free from the poor quality food that Team Snagem could muster. For instance the sandwiches that were made on Fridays were made with real sand. Wes’s stomach rumbled at the relief of not having to eat such poor fare. Speaking of which… “How about some dinner, Espeon, Umbreon?” asked Wes. “Esspi!” (About time you said that!) “Umbri!” (Bacon for me!) “Ok, then. I guess the Outskirt Stand should be the closest place." “Espi! Espeon!” (I don’t care where, just get there NOW! I’M HUNGRY!) “All right, calm down, calm down,” grumbled Wes. “I can see it now anyway.” Espeon and Umbreon looked into the distance, and were a tad confused at the sight of a train of all things in the desert. Wes merely grinned at their bewilderment and pulled up by the train. It had been the beginnings of a grand transportation scheme set for Orre which fell apart after a few weeks. The only part of the railway system ever created was the train itself, now turned into an inn. By the train there was another vehicle with a large sack clearly visible through the windows. Two men - one had a flame-like colour schemed hair that was spiked up, the other had dark blue hair - were inside clearly bickering to each other. “So you’ve done securing that knot, Folly?” “Yes, I have, Trudly.” “Good. Let’s go now, we’re in a rush, remember?” Wes, Espeon and Umbreon observed them enter the vehicle. A long pause followed. “Umm, Folly? Why aren’t you driving?” “I, um, seemed to have misplaced the car keys...” “WHAT!?!” Wes quietly laughed to himself. Umbreon and Espeon however were too busy looking with concern at the train. As Wes went to enter it they snuck in close behind his heels. Inside the train, a large man behind a counter noticed Espeon’s and Umbreon’s cautious looks and laughed merrily. “Never seen a train in the middle of the desert, have they? Oh, where are my manners? Welcome to the Outskirt Stand. What can I do for you, sir?” “Any chance of dinner perhaps?” asked Wes. The man chuckled again. “Of course! Sit down, sit down. By the way, people call me Kirk.” Kirk promptly pulled a hamburger out of nowhere and two food bowls for Wes’ Pokemon. They promptly forgot their fears and feasted upon their lunches. Wes took a moment to observe his surroundings before consuming the burger. It was a unique place, with a few people sitting around watching the T.V. Nearby a man with bright pink hair was playing a tune repeatedly on a harmonica. Wes stopped eating to look upon the man. The bright pink hair looked disturbing to say the least. “Oh never mind him,” exclaimed Kirk. “That’s just Pinky.” “Don’t call me that!” exclaimed the person. “My name is Willie and before you ask, this hair came about from a hairdressing accident…” Umbreon looked upon the person with a questioning look. “Someone’s Kecleon freaked out the hairdresser and she spilled this dye in my hair,” Willie explained. “So I guess I’m stuck with it until it fades out - it doesn’t wash out for some stupid reason…” “Man that’s unlucky Pinky…” muttered Kirk with a grin. Willie just glared at him and went back to playing the same tune on his harmonica. *** Shortly before Wes was settling down to sleep, Wes saw something on the T.V that caught his eye. He had been watching a boring news investigation about a coffee shop that was typical of the average television programs only available in Orre. It was starting to get interesting when one of the reporters, Mary, was ‘assaulted’ by a random old man. He had started shouting about how he couldn’t get coffee and how that was such a tragedy. He wasn’t letting Mary past into the shop to interview the owner and was about to start throwing coffee mugs everywhere, when suddenly the investigation got interrupted. “We interrupt this, eh, interesting news investigation with a special bulletin. Police has confirmed that the notorious criminal gang Team Snagem has had their base destroyed in an explosion.” Willie stopped playing his harmonica as everyone clambered around the T.V. “The location of Team Snagem’s hideout was previously unknown but now police have gotten into the act and have made arrests. They are currently interrogating these people. The cause for the explosion is currently unknown. We will now return to our program.” The T.V program returned to Mary running away from the man who was yelling “WHERE’S MY COFFEEEEE!” Kirk broke the silence that followed by opening a bottle of champagne. Everyone cheered and proceeded to finish off two bottles under two minutes. Wes quietly smiled to himself before joining in the celebrations. It would be harder for Team Snagem to search for him if they were on the back foot. *** The next morning Wes departed the Outskirt Stand to put more distance between him and Team Snagem’s base for safety’s sake. To his amusement, both Folly and Trudly had seemed to be unsuccessful in their search for the car keys. A soft cough was emitted from behind Wes suddenly - Willie had followed him out. “Hey, Wes - want to have a battle?” Wes thought for a moment. He didn’t really like Willie as he wouldn’t stop playing the same annoying tune over and over again on his harmonica. But it would be good practise for Espeon and Umbreon. “Sure, you’re on." They quickly stood apart away from the train and got ready to battle. Silence followed, besides an encouraging shout from Kirk: “Go get him, Pinky!” “Stop calling me that!” shouted Willie. “Go! Moltres and Mewtwo!” he called as he sent out two Pokemon. Wes stared. Surely…he didn’t call his two Zigzagoon after Legendary Pokemon. “Um, ah… oh dear...” muttered Kirk in disbelief, looking on to the two identical brown and white racoons. They stared back at Espeon and Umbreon, with small, black, beady eyes. Quickly recovering from that oddity, Wes quickly flew into action. “Espeon, attack with Confusion on, eh, Moltres, and Umbreon, Bite on Mewtwo…” “Ok, Moltres And Mewtwo, Tackle!” Right, thought Wes. This will be over soon, as he watched the two Zigzagoon take heavy hits. Espeon only suffered minor damage from a flimsy Tackle, while Umbreon evaded one of the Zigzagoon’s Tackle with ease. “Finish off with Return and Secret Power!” commanded Wes. Before Willie could shout at his Zigzagoon to dodge, the Zigzagoon fainted. “Aw, man…return,” said Willie sadly in defeat as he got his two Zigzagoon to return to his Pokeballs. “You’re pretty good!” “Yeah, you made quick work of Pinky!” exclaimed Kirk. But Willie was too busy playing the same old tune again to notice. *** Nearby Folly and Trudly were still looking for the keys. Suddenly Trudly give out a shout of delight. “I found them!” “Great! Let’s go!” said Folly as they hopped in the vehicle. “Oh, by the way, where were they?” “Umm, it doesn’t matter” said Trudly quickly. “No, really, where were they?” “Well, they were… in my pocket.” “What the…” A loud onslaught of words flew out of Folly’s mouth. Everyone came outside to look at what the commotion was about. “You’re telling me that we spent more than TWO HOURS looking for those keys, when they were… (Unintelligible shouting)” As Trudly drove off; Wes noticed that the sack in the back seat was moving. Hmm, that can’t be right thought Wes. Wes climbed onto the Zoomer, and with a hasty ‘Bye’ to Kirk, he followed the mysterious vehicle. *** After a while Wes pulled up against a magnificent-looking town. Water was flowing everywhere and a large fountain was placed in the middle of the town. The architecture was modern and sophisticated. Overall the city was a sight to behold, especially for desert-dwellers who didn't see much of water anywhere. “Umbreon!” (This must be Phenac city by the looks of things!) declared Umbreon. “Esp…” (Well duh…) Espeon said tiredly. “Well, what’s happening here?” said Wes as he approached a group of people. Sure enough, Folly and Trudly were trying to bring the sack within the city, and were failing in fantastic style. The ‘thing’ in the bag was shaking violently. A lady and an athlete with a Castform looked on worriedly. “What’s… in there?” she asked nervously. “Um, ahh…” stammered Folly. “It’s a, um, a rabid crazy wild Pokemon! Stand back - it’s vicious and needs to be taken to the Pokemon centre now!” claimed Trudly hurriedly. “Get me out of here!” shouted the thing inside the bag. Wes and the others looked at Trudly and glared. “Um… it’s so crazy it can… talk?” offered Trudly weakly. “You’re a kidnapper!” shouted the lady. Folly winced. “Yeah, well, you never stop us. We’ve got Pokemon ready for battle!” “Well actually you only have Pokemon, I left mine with…” began Trudly. “Shut UP!” “I’ll take you on!” cried the athlete with a Castform. “Are you serious? Your Castform against…. TWO Pokemon? You’ll never win!” Wes decided to take action, as nobody in the town seemed to register the fact that there was a kidnapping occurring. “I’ll battle,” he said as he signalled to Espeon and Umbreon to get ready. “Ah… fine then! Prepare to lose!” said Folly confidently. “Go, my Whismur!” He then proceeded to send out two cute-looking pink Pokemon. They were minute in size compared to Espeon and Umbreon, and didn't look capable of putting up a good fight. Right… he thinks he can beat me with those? thought Wes. Even the athlete with the Castform looked amused. *** A mere half-minute later Folly and Trudly were walking off in defeat. Wes made sure of that, especially after Espeon and Umbreon primed themselves to take out the criminals as well. The athlete got to work on the knot of the sack. “Huh… this knot is tough to undo…” Wes frowned. Why bother with untying a knot when you could do it the easy way? “Umbreon, Bite the rope!” he ordered, as his Pokemon leapt at the bag and bit the rope into pieces. Immediately a girl jumped out of the sack. She was small and dainty - and sported a blue skirt and oddly enough Ugg boots. “Now then, are you all right?” asked the woman. “Yes… I think so,” said the girl. “Good. After being tied up in a sack, you're lucky you didn’t suffer any mild…” Suddenly the girl smiled and shouted “MY NAME’S ROMARIO AND I LIKE CHOCOLATE PIE!” “…It seems I spoke too soon…” muttered the lady. “Hey - where did she go?” asked the athlete. “ZROOM ZROOM!” shouted the confused person, who was aboard Wes’s Zoomer. She then attempted to drive the Zoomer, but looked confused by the various handles and the absence of a steering wheel. “Don’t touch that!” cried Wes. Fortunately the girl abruptly fell out of the Zoomer in comical fashion. She lay on the ground and started spinning around and around, smiling idiotically. “I’m scared,” muttered the athlete. “Being in that bag without much oxygen mustn’t have done much good on her…” Wes considered this. “I have an idea. Espeon! Use a gentle Confusion on her to get her memory back! Be careful though…” Espeon stared into the girl’s eyes. After a moment, the girl seemed to calm down. “Wha… what happened to me?” she asked. “Oh, good, you’re all right now,” soothed the lady. “You were being kidnapped by two men, but this young man saved you. You were a bit, well, out of it a moment ago though…” “Why, what did I do?” “Umm… never mind,” said the woman hurriedly. “Anyway, what’s your name?” “It’s… Rui.” “Any idea why they kidnapped you?” asked Wes. He wondered why anyone would kidnap this harmless-looking girl. “Well, actually…” began Rui. *** Yes, that’s Chapter One out of the way. Hope you enjoyed it, and please review, as I thrive on the such.