New Bark Town

New Bark Town


New Bark Town is located in southeastern Johto. It is home to the lab of Professor Elm, who possesses the Pokémon, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile.

Other than being connected to Route 29 in the west, it is also the town that must be passed through to reach Tohjo Falls, Victory Road, and Indigo Plateau, via Route 26 and Route 27.

"Arf! Arf!" Sparky wags his tail and barked in excitement. "Good job Sparky!" Sam praised. Sam arrived at New Bark Town by traveling through the thick forest with Sparky. Sam opened his map and trace his fingers to where he should be. "Hm... Yeah, no doubt about it. I'm in New Bark Town, Alright!" he cried pumping his hand in the air. "Come on Sparky, let's see if anyone can show us around the town."

Urgh... where am I?

Only remembering flying and almost fainting, Mikona opened his eyes to find himself on a seat in a white room. Blur is going away... machines, tables, and a healing pad appeared. Pokemon Center? Or a lab? He looked to the left, seeing various markings on a map of Johto, all telling what Pokemon is where. Lab. Johto Lab. Professor Elms... if the ownership wasn't switched recently. The bluenette looked to his right. Kagami, with wide eyes, who rushed to hug him furiously. 'Sorry Kagami...' He apologized very tiredly. 'I took a bit long.' She replied with nothing, instead hugging him hardeer. Looking back forward, he awaited the next action that was going to happen.

*The newly angered Satoshi was relocated to the Johto region. He arrived in the evening at New bark town. He seemed more angry and hateful than the las time anyone saw him. His anger was built up by rage from his father. He doesnt care what he does now. All he cares about is destruction and making others feel lower than himself. Then he saw Prof. Elms lab and decided to walk in to steal some pokemon. He saw the professor and a familiar kid.*

M...mikona is that you? Why are you here?

Wargle landed without difficulty. I jumped off as Wargle carried Mikona on his back. I glanced around and found a large building. On the mailbox read "Elm's Lab". That's the place Fushi-nii mentioned before!

Wargle walked inside with me as we saw it deserted. Professor Elm and his assistants were probably out for field study or the such. I know I should ask them before using one of the chairs but it's important that Mikona rests. Wargle let him down onto the soft upholstery. I smiled as I saw his sleeping face. After all of these ordeals, it was nice to have a respite like this.

"Thank you, Wargle." I said as I handed his Pokeball back. The bird took off in an instant into the sky. He must've been worried about Fushi-nii. Either that or eager to be helpful.

I looked around. A white room, not exactly at the back of the lab where Elm's important things are, tables, books. Typical things in a lab. I needed some fresh air, though.

I walked outside and felt the gentle breeze blow across my face. New Bark Town, huh? It feels like a new beginning, after all of that's happened.

I wandered across the small town. Only a few houses, I see. I didn't even recognize that a familiar face walked by the Lab, nor the Professor that walked into it.

There was a small pond nearby. I stooped down to look into it. It was crystal clear as I saw my reflection. Already, I didn't recognize the face that left Slateport City. I looked more tired, more worried. Was this adventure too much for me? No, not at all. With that exhausted face, I saw relief and experience. I'm stronger than before. I just need to keep going that's all. I looked to my left and Riolu stared at his reflection as well. As the two of us sat staring at the water, listening to the calm wind blow by, I wished that moments like these would last forever.

Now with a clearer vision, Mikona looked at the Rocket suspiciously. "How do you know my name?" His look turned into cold tactic as Kagami jumped into action, readying a confusion. After a few seconds, Professor Elm had appeared in the entrance with a disciplined expression, Togekiss at his side, Aura Sphere charging. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir." Many, many years ago, a boy had stolen a starter from here. The boy had turned out alright in the end, but the now aged researcher had to be safer this time.

Aura Sphere now aimed at Satoshi's head, the professor led the Rocket out of town before returning to Mikona. "I'm sorry about that. Mr..." "Mikona Silencia. "Mr. Silencia. Related to the newest E4 member? Anyways, I'm Professor Elm, and I'm the Pokemon Professor of Johto. I see you were escorted here by E4 Fushidara's Braviary. Beautiful specimen, that." Prof. Elm scratched his head, smiling embarrassingly. "Sorry, I'm derailing. Could you explain what happened?"

"Well, it's n-nice to m-meet you professor..." The psychic recounted his point of view of the Rocket encounters, fatigue and mild trauma causing his voice to falter and stutter, the recount ending in his waking here.

"Ah, I see..." The older man rubbed his chin before being somewhat serious. "If you could call Miss... Satoko, was it? Here, then I can explain to both of you what we'll do." Mikona nodded and teleported to her with Kagami's help. "H-Hey, S-Satoko..." He said to her, both now near the pond. "Th-the professor wants to see you..."

Looking into the pond, he didn't see the silent, blank face he saw at home before this. He saw fear, uncertainty, paranoia... but above those, even if only a little bit, he saw knowledge and humility. Things have changed.

*He was angry that he was sent out of town by a wimp like Prof. Elm. After the professor left he went back into the town and watched through the window. He threw a small container threw the window smashing the glass and it exploded and fire spread around the lab quickly. He ran off away from the lab smiling leaving to route 29. Before He left New Bark Town, he looked back and watched the research lab on fire. Then he finally left*
[exit to route 29]

[Christ, Satoshi, are you trying to kill Elm? He's still in the lab, never left.]

Professor Elm, who was still in the lab, had seen the container actually come in through the window. A napalm grenade! Elm then dashed to the item before it exploded, threw it back out the window, and watched as the grenade exploded in the nearby trees, starting a fire. Calling an Azumarill out, the Professor doused the trees with Water Gun. Phew... if that exploded in here... Calling the police number, he gave an alert to the police of the boy who tried to destroy years of research.

Satoshi was now wanted in Johto.

"H-Hey, S-Satoko...Th-the professor wants to see you..." I heard from behind me. It was Mikona, still shaken but better than before. His eyes, though, didn't say the same. They were faded from fear and uncertainty. Did my eyes say the same? Before I could answer that, I heard a large explosion. I turned to see smoke rise from the Pokemon Lab. What in the world happened?

The two of us ran over to see Azumarill dousing out the fires in the lab. Towards Route 29 was a guy, around our age, running off. His figure seemed familiar though. Who is that?

I wanted to follow him, but there was too much chaos happening as it is. I felt frozen as Policemen and Pokemon ran past me. Is Johto really that safe?

Elm sighed as the fires were finally doused out. "Ah, come in, come in, Satoko." He pulled up 2 chairs to his desk, sighing. "Sorry about that. It seems we had a Rocket enter the building. I don't dare to wonder what's going to happen to him. " Mikona too the left seat, Kagami sighing as she stood. 'Well, Kona, that was new. Makes you wonder if Johto really is safe.' Mikona only nodded shakily.

Elm nodded to both of them. "Mikona explained the situation to me. You'll be situated in Johto after all, but I would advise moving slowly at first with the recent criminal activity.Now, I'll-" A land line rang at the desk. "Hello, Professor Elm speaking. Is that- No, I- But, at this ti- Oh, I see- Alright." The aged man rubbed his forehead. "Jeez, too much is happening today. Well, somebody is coming over without an invitation for you two. I must say Mikona, you're mom's quite overprotective..."

The aforementioned bluenette sighed and looked away with embarrassment and a light blush. He wasn't surprised per say, just... it was his MOTHER coming over, this would be strange.

I don't believe what I heard. Mikona's mother? Who was she? I can't remember if Mikona mentioned who his mother was. On his face, I saw a mix between discomfort and disbelief. Was he excited? Scared, perhaps? I didn't know how to feel myself. I saw my hand shaking. Am I nervous? Nervous about meeting his mom? Why would I be nervous about th-...do I li...No, that's not it at all! It can't be! I'm just shivering because it's cold! Right!

I saw snow appearing outside. Definitely cold. I peered out the window as I saw a middle-aged woman coming towards the lab. What scared me more than the lady was the giant dragon she was on top of. Maybe I was scared, but for a perfectly different reason.

"Seems like Kyurem is starting to affect the weather..." Mariel thought mid-flight towards New Bark. It's true, snow clouds were starting to form in the sky, regardless of what the season was. Now descending in the air, she saw the lab and the houses that were there. Wait... we're descending a bit too fast. She then got into a scowl and looked down at the legendary, who was seeming as innocent as possible. Yep, giant entrance. Like trainer like pokemon, she supposed... She smiled as she played along.

Kyurem landed with a great 'boom!' in the area central the town, directing a threatening roar as it's head declined, like a primitive beast. The albino, badass she is, started laughing maniacally as she pointed her sword towards the sky. Playtime's over. She jumped from the ice-types neck and playfully bonked him with the flat of her blade, said ice-type seemingly having a blush while growling embarrassingly. "You're scaring the neighbors. Now fix their weather." Mariel said with a chuckle as she sheathed her sword.

Kyurem used Sunny Day!

The weather returning to normal (Sunny Day negates Kyurems natural cold), Kyurem decided to go perch at the top of the laboratory. Meanwhile, the Elite Four barged in the lab sprinting, grabbed Mikona by the shoulders, and kissed both his cheeks. ...Then she tried to kiss his lips before noticing the other two in the room, lips centimeters away from his. "Oh yeah, can't do that in front of people."

Elm just facepalmed.

J-Just a minute ago it was snowing! Now's it's sunny? I stared at this woman with disbelief. She's...amazing! The way she controlled the giant Pokemon was incredible! I was at a loss for words as she burst through the door and began to kiss Mikona on the cheeks.

I glanced over to Elm to see if he would give any hint as to how to behave. He simply face-palmed. Great help, Elm.

I mustered some words as I bowed my head to her. "M-my name i-is Satoko! Satoko Saiki! Pleased to meet you!" I felt my legs tremble as I said that.

Looking at the Kyurem with wide eyes, Mikona's demeanor then changed back to the neutral. Well of course mother would have such a Pokemon... Seeing the weather come back to normal, he then focused his attention on his sprinting maternal figure, who rushed at him and kissed him on both cheeks. Luckily, she stopped her advance on his mouth as she saw the other two people, leaving a completely red-faced male psychic. She's been doing that since he was SEVEN! When will she stop?

Shyly, he sighed and replied to her. "H-Hi, mom..."

Releasing her hold on Mikona's face, she spotted some blonde girl bowing to her with trembling knees. "M-my name i-is Satoko! Satoko Saiki! Pleased to meet you!" Heh... she looks real afraid. Kyurem musta shaken her up. With no sense of personal space, Mariel held Satoko's chin and lifted it so that Satoko was standing straight and looking up at the master psychic, the older woman giving a bright smile. "Yo, no need to be all respectful, these clothes are just Elite Four business and fun. Kyurem," She let go of the Saiki's chin to point at the ceiling that the ice dragon was roosting on, "Is also just for fun."

Wait... Saiki? "So you're Fushidara's brat, eh?"Her eyes widened a bit, then she shook her head. "Nevermind, then. FIRST PRIORITY!" As Mariel yelled that, she took hold of Mikona's jaw to move his head around, checking every square inch of him to see if he was hurt, frantically shooting questions. "You alright? Are you hurt? Why'd ya go unconscious? And why're you blushing? All I did was try to kiss you."

"So you're Fushidara's brat, eh?" she said as her eyes widened a bit. 'Fushi-nii's brat'? That comment kinda ticked me off. But I didn't dare show any response so I stayed quiet.

The way she mothered over Mikona, it was a bit heart-warming. It reminded me when Fushi-nii would take care of me when we were younger. Still, it made the situation a bit awkward, shown on Elm's face.

"First you throw New Bark Town into a climate crisis," sighed the aged professor. "Then you become an overprotective mother. You never cease to amaze me, Mariel."

Still seeing if theres any scars, she checked down Mikona's pants, much to her son's dismay. "Yeah, yeah, Elm, that's how I roll..." Suddenly, a blush. "You've really grown bigger, kid... Ahem." She then regained composure as she lifted his shirt up, finding the scar on his back. "AHA! A fall! Well... that explains how you got knocked out. And you bled a lot, too..." She sighed with a frown. "I'm not gonna ask what happened, kiddo, I hate when people ask me the same damn thing."

Done with the body-check, the woman coughed. "Well, now that that's done... who wants a free Pokemon? I have some little ones in the back of my PC really rearing for a fight."

Free Pokemon? Did I hear her right? Still trying to recover from a shirtless Mikona and his mother checking down his pants, I tried to focus my head. "As much as I would like a new partner for my team, why would you give us new Pokemon? Didn't you catch these Pokemon as partners for your journey?"

Putting the stuttering boy's shirt back on for him, she took a look at the girl. "Well, yeah. I've been at this for decades, kid, and I caught lots of Pokemon to help me out. Thing is, to get into E4, you gots ta have the best of the best, so I chose my best. Mind you, I still value my Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh teams, but you have to admit, they don't like being in the back seat all the time, not to mention the other non-mains who's a tad low on level. That's why I'm lending some tykes to you kids. They need a fight. I'll give em a fight."

A grin stretched across my face. "Thank you, Ms. Silencia! This means alot to me!" I couldn't contain my excitement from the idea that I'll have one of the Elite 4's pokemon, and not just Fushi-niis.

Elm sighed, as he couldn't hold back a gentle smile. "Haha, and I thought trainers were supposed to catch their Pokemon. You love spoiling kids, don't you, Mariel?"

"Heh, no problem, kid! I do love spoiling them. Anywho..." She pulled out her laptop from hammerspace yet again and logged on to Bebe's PC. She never actually met Bill the first time, and didn't run into Lanette in Hoenn. She met Bebe in Sinnoh instead, but that's a story for later. "Take a good look, kids, and pick a low level one. We still have the Badge Leveling Clause up, which means nothing above level 20 for those with one badge."

I looked at the extensive variety of Pokemon. There were so many of them, even some I haven't seen before! Upon seeing this, I thought how large the world really was.

As we scrolled through the boxes, I spotted a little green Pokemon. It looked like a little flower, but I haven't seen it around here or around Slateport.

"Petilil, Lv7...what's that one?"

When we got low enough for me to jump off I did.
"Thanks Pidgeotto but how bout we get you a new ball?"
I looked at him and loaded an ultra ball into my snag machine and it started to glow and I threw it at him
Pidgeotto was sucked into the ultra ball and it landed and only shook once then it stopped signaling that I caught him.
"Yeah I caught a Pidgeotto."
I smiled and tossed the old Pokeball away.
I Then turned and looked around pulling my goggles up.
"Wow This looks like quite the small town." I started to walk by this building with a windmill next to it and a set of stairs on the side and I went over to the left side of the building and pressed my head against the window and looked inside to see a tall male with a lab coat on, Two little kids, a boy in psychic class clothes and another is lass class style clothes, and finally a woman which looked to be about in her 30's to 40's.

"Hmm... I wonder what they're doing in there. I thought to my self as I kept staring inside the building.

"I-I can answer that, Satoko. It's a grass type from Unova that evolves with a Sun Stone." Mikona himself looked over what was possible from the choices. Spoiling mother. "Hm... Lv7... Ferroseed? Seems defensive..."

I grinned at the idea of having a new friend on my team. At the corner of my eye, I spotted a person with a weird machine attached to his arm. He was peering inside at us. A shiver went down my spine as I looked to Prof. Elm.

"Um, Prof. Elm? There's someone looking inside through your window."

Elm sighed. "You'd think I've had enough kids looking through my Lab windows and causing me trouble." He gestured his hand to the person outside. "Come on in, don't be shy. If you're here to start your adventure, try not to skulk around, okay?"