Tia visits an old friend, and expands her Poke Ball research to include Hoenn-made Poke Balls.
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Tia arrived at Professor Elm’s lab at eight o’clock sharp, carrying a small box filled with Poke Balls. She carried the box over to the reception desk and waited for one of the assistants, who was busy typing at the computer terminal.
The assistant looked up, and seeing Tia, she gave her a big smile. “Why, hello there, stranger!”
Tia smiled back. “Hi, Kit.”
“How’s the traveling life?” Kit asked, “I heard you’re on a training journey through Johto and Kanto, just like I did back in the day!”
Tia laughed hastily. “Not a ‘training’ journey. Just a research trip. Professor Oak’s sponsoring it, so I’m working for him while I’m working on my dissertation.”
Kit shrugged. “All the same, it must be exciting!”
“I guess.” Tia gestured to the box of Poke Balls. “I have Professor Elm’s request right here: 5 each of Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile, for his next Trainer class.”
“Great!” Kit answered, “We appreciate the help!” Then she blinked, as if she was remembering something. “Oh, yeah! Almost forgot! Some packages came in for you last week!”
Tia looked thoughtful. “Were they big?”
“Gigantic,” Kit answered, “Three big boxes, with Hoenn stamps and ‘Devon Corporation’ written all over them. I’m almost afraid to ask what you ordered…”
“Just Poke Balls,” Tia answered, “150 each of every special Poke Ball that Devon makes.”
“Yikes,” Kit remarked, “That must have put everyone into an uproar, ordering so much. They must have thought you were some sort of super PokeMart!”
“Not really,” Tia answered, laughing. “They were especially helpful. They even gave me a researcher’s discount!”
“Nice!” Kit walked over to three big boxes in a corner, and pulled one down. “So how are you going to get these… uh… Wait, where are you staying right now?”
“At the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center.” Tia thought a moment. “Hmm. I didn’t think about how I’d be carrying these things around.”
“How about I mail them over to the Pokemon Center, and you can figure out what to do with them then?”
“Thanks,” Tia said gratefully. “Well, I’d better be going now. I don’t want to keep you from your duties too long!”
“No problem. Come back anytime!” Kit grinned. “I’d like to hear more about your adventures!”
“Sure. Oh! One more thing,” Tia opened up one of the boxes and pulled out a handful of various Poke Balls. “It wouldn’t hurt to start working on these on my way back to the Pokemon Center!”
Kit smiled. “Ever resourceful.”
Here is where I begin to veer off from the Gen 2 games and expand to Gen 3 and 4, item-wise. Tia's still limited to exploring Johto and Kanto, though - traveling to different regions gets expensive! This also marks the introduction of one of my other OCs, Kit. I've written more about Kit in "Golden Smile and Silver Tears," which is a prototype to this series. Some characters from "Golden Smile and Silver Tears" may show up here with slight differences, and not all of the details will match up.