C041 - Warning the regions of hidden dangers

It was late at night. Luna and Carl had left after getting dinner from Pete in exchange for bringing some groceries tomorrow.

Pete and his pokemon were lounging on top of the cliff near the forest's edge in case of an Ariados attack. The only human present was presently finishing the report on Klink he had promised the professor.

"Aaaand sent. Alright, let's do what I put off for way too long already," Pete murmured to himself as he took out a pen and some pieces of paper.

"If my death was anything to go by, I'm not good enough with computers to do this stealthily in a world with data come to life in the form of Porygon... so let's do it old-school."

Pete took out his notebook written in his native language last and browsed some sections to make sure he got everything he wanted to write. There were four letters he was going to send out. One to Courtney in Hoenn. One to Leon in Galar. One to Cynthia in Sinno. And finally, one to Professor Oak in Kanto.

For Oak, Pete wrote the most cryptic message to reveal as little about himself as possible. He gave the professor some leads on Team Rocket bases in Kanto and Johto as described some of the experiments they have likely started already like Dr Namba's Rage Crown that would lead to a destroyed town north of Viridian City in the future because a prototype was mishandled during transportation.

He also included a vague plot to Blackthorn City so that Professor Oak would seek out the current champion Lance, who was born there. Pete, however, did not mention that Giovanni was the current leader. All his vague insinuations would backfire if he 'knew' the identity of such a high-ranking leader.

For Leon, Pete barely wrote anything. Leon and Rose, the main villain of the game series taking place in that region, currently had a very good relationship. Rose was even the biggest reason Leon could become the champion as Rose was his biggest sponsor.

However, Pete did warn Leon that when something called "Dynamax" was introduced by Macro Cosmos, he should be vigilant and secretly investigate its source. Pete also told Leon to look out for Oleana and involve her in the investigation.

Who knew, maybe Pete played matchmaker between the two, they would certainly fit well together. Well, Pete didn't find anything on Oleana online yet, so maybe he was way too early for this piece of information. In that case, he would probably need to find Leon personally so that the world wouldn't be at the mercy of any god pokemon intervening in the awakening of Eternatus

When he wrote the letter for Cynthia, Pete wasn't quite sure what to write. Team Galactic, the main villainous organization running rampant in Sinnoh, was still just a small team in Sunyshore City under a different name. Cyrus, their leader, was a simple, very well-educated sociopath working in a repairshop for Silph Co.

It was only after he was asked to fix a certain black market item developed by Team Rocket that he would start his ambitions and only when he stumbled upon some hidden lore would he start his plan to wipe out the universe by enslaving any pokemon of the creation trio.

So, in the end, Pete revealed the existence of the lake guardians Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. He asked Cynthia to look out for their well-being since these three were too naive despite being able to read minds.

For anything else, Pete would need to keep an eye open for news in Sinnoh and then maybe reveal himself to Cynthia by presenting her his 'research' to prevent the creation trio from stomping Sinnoh out of existence in anger.

And lastly, Pete got to the letter for Courtney. He decided to visit Hoenn soon to buy a pokeblock kit and tell Steven or Wallace, whoever was champion at that point, his 'worrying discoveries' in person.

Pete still didn't know why there were no blenders sold in Johto, so he would need to buy the berry blender in Hoenn or pay an absolute premium for no reason.

Courtney's backstory wasn't really covered in the games or anime, except for the fact that she was likely a pokemon contestant and possibly a friend of Gary Oak's older sister before becoming a Team Magma Admin.

In the backstory Pete wrote, Courtney was indeed a contestant but was banned from participating based on a scheme by Team Aqua Admin Matt, which she would eventually discover and join Team Magma to get back at them. In her time in Team Magma, she would become weirdly dependent on the team leader Maxie.

Maxie himself was a master manipulator who somehow convinced a whole group of peaceful environmentalists to release an ancient legendary pokemon under his sole control to increase the landmass of Hoenn.

Sure, by then he had seeded the organization with enough grunts and lowlives to do the dirty work and do sublte propaganda, but still. He still convinced all of them that would lead to a more peaceful region. The guy was clearly amazing at changing narratives and twisting facts.

But back to Courtney, who was coincidentally banned from pokemon contests on the same exact day that Pete was placed on this planet. Courtney right now should still live in the small apartment she had bought for herself, a very old Magmar from her late father, and a Numel she had found in the wild.

In a different life, she might have even become a fire type gym leader because the way Pete wrote her, she was very talented and had awakened her fire type affinity as a young girl.

'But what can I offer her that she couldn't get herself? A chance to move to another region from a stranger sounds super creepy... She lives in Rustboro City on the far west. Could I get her to catch some pokemon for me until or if I meet her? That's feasible, though she would still wonder why I didn't get the services of actual poachers. Would it be enough to tell her that I had heard about her fishy ban, liked her work ethic with pokemon, and wanted to offer her a chance at earning money by doing something that she would like?'

Pete was in deep thought for this last letter. All the plans he thought off before were thrown out when he was about to put them to paper because they all sounded like straight creepy stalker material written down in a letter to a stranger.

'Okay, think about what she could catch near Rustboro City so that I can keep my visit to Hoenn on the eastern border and have her meet me. Lotad, Roselia, and Shroomish are all somewhere around Rustboro and Petalburg City, right? What about Sewaddle and Cottonee? She would have the typing advantage over a Tropius, but are they really smart to have caught by a poacher for me? A Tropius is probably smart and freespirited to a degree that it would resent me for going about it like that...'

Eventually, Pete decided to give her the chance to catch the first five pokemon and listed a few of the rare pokemon living in Hoenn as a bonus. This letter would be the only one sent as a parcel together with a bunch of luxury balls he still had left over.

When Pete was done and gave Courtney a time and date for one month in the future in Lilycove City, Pete still felt like an idiot sending it over to Courtney like this with a box of free luxury balls. He didn't fear Team Rocket finding out about him through it, but he didn't even know Courtney and sent her a box worth about P$15.000 without actually knowing her.

In the end, he still decided to go through with sending it. He had a gut feeling that he would appreciate the outcome, and while money was still an issue in the short term, Pete felt like he didn't miss out on much by helping the young woman.

Worst case scenario, she will sell the items and use that money to move by herself, and Team Magma had one less capable trainer in their midst.

"Okay. That's that. Solosis, you and Zorua head to Goldenrod City tomorrow when Exeggutor dropped off Luna and Carl. Zorua, like we discussed, I want you to drop these off at the post office we saw there with the look of a random young boy. Can you two do that and come back on your own?"

Solosis had by now learned the move Teleport, but Pete feared that she didn't have enough reserves for both ways, that was why he arranged it like that.

Solosis agreed to the plan via telepathy with happy feelings. Zorua looked up with a yawn and nodded. He had trained too hard today and since it was almost dusk, the tricky fox was rather sleepy.

"Thank you two! Alright, everybody who wants to take a nap, do so now. I'll get one in as well, so don't be shy. Golurk, we'll rely on you to be our sentinel once more," Pete suggested to his whole team before giving the giant golem pokemon a sincere smile.

After packing away his things and taking a nap for a good three hours, Pete was woken by the earth below him shaking.

Pete quickly got up and looked around everywhere but saw no enemies. He looked to Golurk, his eyes drooping a little before asking his pokemon what that was about.

The answer he received in the form of pictures were a good 30 Ariados currently running toward them slowly but steadily on the ground from inside the forest. And if 30 of them were running on the ground, just how many of them were in the trees?

"Hey, Vileplumes, we got incoming!" Pete shouted before adressing his team, "everyone wake up. Put your game faces on!"