[X] My Assistant

[Amissa]

"The Gigarte Grotto Disaster", that was what the headlines read when the news finally broke out. After everything that happened, it was impossible to keep the media out of the story. Everyone in Gigarte was outraged about the polluted cave that was secretly housing a dirty factory designed to create a peculiar kind of pokeball. The media attention and fury of the citizenry did have some positive results, however. The greatest thing about it was that tons of volunteers turned out to help clean up, armed with gas masks and protective gear. In the weeks after the discovery, these volunteers worked day and night and did a good job of making the cave safer for people living in homes near the grotto as well as for the police and detectives who needed to search the area. Protestors could be seen in front of Gigarte City Hall waving signs about and chanting "Save Gigarte Grotto, and save our town!" Conspiracy theorists worried that Gigarte had secretly been invaded by industrialists from Petropolis. Also, Daniel Worthington, along with all of the others who first explored the cave and risked their necks to make the discovery, became overnight celebrities.

It was just beginning to warm up in Gigarte after an especially chilly winter season, and Daniel was lounging around on his backyard patio watching as his machop, Hercules practiced some of his new moves. "Let's see your Seismic Toss!" Daniel called, and Hercules reacted by grabbing the practice dummy, leaping into the air and tossing it forcefully down into the yard. Hercules landed nimbly on his toes, flexing his muscles as the dummy crashed against the ground, creating a small depression in the yard and sending some of its stuffing flying. Daniel was always having to buy Hercules more practice dummies because he beat the stuffing out of them so often. This dummy was just a gengar doll, but whenever Hercules punched or hit it, the doll would emit a mechanical evil laughter.

"Good job, Herc. But oh no! Gengar just used Nightshade on you!" Daniel said with a playful grin. Hercules played his part, grabbing his head in exaggerated pain and anguish as though he had just taken a frightening Nightshade attack. "You'd better get some Revenge!" Hercules recovered from the make-believe attack with a fierce make-believe anger glowing in his eyes. The fighting type flew at the pokemon doll with a rolled up fist and hit it with such a powerful uppercut that it sent the doll flying beyond the roof of Daniel's rather large house. "Yay!" Daniel cheered from his seat. "You've just defeated wild Gengar! Come over and have something to drink."

"Maaachop!" Hercules roared, flexing his muscles in a victorious pose. He happily skipped over to take a sip of the berry smoothie that was waiting for him on the patio table. Daniel pet his pokemon on the head, rubbing between the machop's head crests the way that Hercules liked. Hercules had been growing much stronger lately and it seemed to Daniel that he was learning new attacks more quickly. Daniel had been careful to keep working with both of his pokemon despite instructions from his doctor to take it easy for a while. His parents also kept getting on his case, urging him get some rest after he suffered some rather unpleasant injuries as a result of the large fire and the even larger explosion during his adventure investigating Gigarte Grotto.

Therefore, Daniel compromised and settled for training his pokemon while nursing his wounds at the same time. It wasn't as though there wasn't plenty of action to get into at home in Gigarte. For example, Daniel had been contemplating challenging the local gymleader. Training with his pokemon had been going so well that the teenager was quickly running out of reasons as to why he should put off trying for his first gym badge. After all, the worst that could happen was that he would lose and he could always try again later if that happened. His parents agreed with him, and Victor Worthington, Daniel's father, made sure that his son also knew about the new Pokeathalon stadium, Canopy Dome. Being fairly athletic, the idea of engaging in sports events alongside his pokemon sounded like great fun, so Daniel thought he might try that out too.

There was just a few minor problems. One of these was the odd behavior of half of his pokemon team. Geb, his nincada had begun to stray off and isolate himself. He appeared depressed even as Daniel tried to give him extra attention to cheer him up. Unlike Hercules, who always seemed transparent and easy to understand, Geb was more mysterious and more likely to try and deny any problems, especially if they concerned his relationship with his trainer.

Another problem was the discouraging size of his team. Hercules and Geb were like family to him, but Daniel wasn't sure if just the two of them would cut it in a serious matchup. When exploring the grotto, Daniel found himself in the unique situation of fighting for his life and his hometown...and he lost. This sparked a kind of insecurity in Daniel. Yes, he had escaped, but what if he hadn't? What if his friends hadn't been there to save him? He'd have been toast! Not just burnt toast, but the kind of toast that's been crumbled to pieces and thrown out to feed the bird pokemon, but even they won't touch it because they can't recognize it as food. Having more pokemon would mean that he would have more protection from evildoers. Besides, even his parents had begun to ask him when he was planning on catching a pokemon.

Finally, there was the problem of his still lingering injuries. After the final explosion in Daniel's Gigarte Grotto adventure, the exploring trainers managed to escape, but just barely. They had been flung to the ground and Daniel himself had gone unconscious. Soon emergency rescue services arrived, alerted by calls from people complaining about the sound of a large blast. The trainers were rushed to the hospital where they were treated for everything from minor cuts and bruises to severe burns and smoke inhalation. Daniel came out fairly well since he was somewhat protected by the leather jacket that his father gave him just before the journey. That jacket, now ripped, burnt, and smelling faintly of rotten eggs, now stood on display in a place of honor in his family's house as a conversation piece whenever people came to visit. Instead, Daniel had been most affected by the smoke inhalation and even after spending time in the hospital, he often felt short of breath even after just a little bit of exertion. That could cause him big problems if he wanted to try out the Pokeathalon.

Despite these obstacles, Daniel was still drawn to the challenge. He also wanted to have something to show for himself after staying at home for so long. What would his friends from Castle Vonmoto think if they heard that he still hadn't left Gigarte to explore the world like they did? If he met them again soon, he wanted to be able show them that he was working hard too. Just then, his cell phone started ringing and the boy reached into his pocket to answer it.

"Hello? Officer Jenny!" Daniel spoke into his phone. Hercules looked up from his smoothie with interest even though he didn't really get the whole "talking on the phone" jazz. "Oh yeah, I'll be over as soon as possible! I'm always happy to help out. See you soon!" Daniel hung up his phone and leapt out of his seat. "Hercules! Geb! We have work to do!"

Hercules jumped up, flexing his arms in his usual show of bravado, meaning that he was ready to take on any challenge. Geb, however, was nowhere to be seen. Daniel went about searching the yard for his bug pokemon until he found a small burrow near some rose bushes. "Geb, hey buddy, are you down there? I sure hope so, cause I'll probably scream like a little girl if an ekans slithers out of this hole at me." Geb was indeed hiding in the little burrow and climbed out to peek at Daniel when he was summoned. The nincada was never terribly expressive but a lack of appetite and interest in training told Daniel that Geb hadn't felt quite right since they escaped from the grotto. He had probably burrowed near the thorny rose bushes in order to discourage anyone from bothering him while he sulked in solitude.

"I need you to come with me. Officer Jenny wants us to come and help her with some more stuff with the grotto. Come on." Daniel held his arm out to Geb and the insect crawled up the trainer's arm and climbed onto the back of the boy's hoodie. There he clung onto the boy as though he were a tree. This was his preferred way of travelling with Daniel since he didn't move as quickly as the boy and his machop, but he had grown too large to ride on Daniel's shoulder anymore. Daniel himself preferred to have his pokemon out of their pokeballs as much as possible, so carrying a twenty-five pound nincada on his back was a small burden to him. His school book bag had been heavier, or so he insisted when his parents complained.

"Alright then, let's go men!" Daniel said as he and his pokemon headed over to the Police Department. He took off at a brisk walk instead of his usual jog, mindful of his recent breathing problems. It was some distance to the Police Department, but Daniel was still too proud to call a cab or ask Officer Jenny to pick him up. He may have had a tough time lately, but he wasn't a complete invalid after all.