Ring, ring! You've got mail! (Joey)

[Morrigan]

(Joey wants to steal have my Slugma. D:)

It had been a three whole days since Sharada's last bump in with Joey and she was still lingering inside of the Pokemon Center he had left her outside of. Before he was chased away by the police, he had handed her a scrunched up piece of paper. After unfolding it, it appeared that he had handed her a phone number, most likely his own. She had a few thoughts about phoning him, but knowing he was on the run she thought not to. Ringing at the wrong time would probably dig his grave even deeper.

But Joey wasn't the only thing haunting Sharada. She had recently recieved a new pokemon after battling a strange, red-headed trainer from a cave. The Pokemon was an unusual one and something she wouldn't necesserily jump for joy over. The little Slugma had a kinda cute aura about it, but it just didnt seem to be working for her. Everywhere it would go it would leave trails of silver slim, including when it nudge her leg and cuddled her other Pokemon. It was nice enough, but she thought that someone else could probably use him to his full potentional and the only other person she really knew from these parts were... well... Joe.

The thought of actually giving him something somewhat annoyed her, heck, he might even reject her offer completely. But then again, who would reject a Shiny Slugma? She began to tap her fingers against the tables surface, her eyes flickering from the paper to her Poketch. With a sudden slam of her fist on the table, Sharada spoke up, "O-OKAY! Let's do this!" she spoke almost triumphantly, hand shaking as she began to enter the numbers.

As she entered the last number, she fell completely silent as the phone began to ring. She clentched her teeth, praying to Arceus that he hadn't given her some other guys number. But there didnt seem to be any answer. Blinking, she started to enter it again, but there was still no answer. She was starting to get angry and had entered the number several times, whilst it was still ringing, Sharada frown and shouted out loud, "Damn it! I actually have something nice for you and you dont pick up?! GRAH! Typical..."

[The REAL Joey]

Joey tiredly adjusted the tightness of his bandanna and looked up at the tranquil night's sky. There wasn't much in the sky. No clouds, no stars. It was entirely empty except for the gradient hue of the night. He let out a content sigh and carried on wearily jaunting along the outskirts of Violet City. On peaceful night's like this he enjoyed his little strolls. Either way, it beat being followed non-stop by the police in the vain attempt of thinking they could even possibly catch him. He looked to his poketch and decided it was about time he found somewhere to kip for the night. Usually he took up one of the beds in the Pokemon Centres as they normally offered a hostel type of accommodation. However, with the police being on top lookout for him he was feeling a bit cautious about entering one.

His erring was promptly interrupted by the subtle ringing tone and vibration of his poketch. Joey was pretty fortunate in the regard that he was one of the first few to have received a poketch which had special pokegear functionality. He pressed down on one of the various buttons and looked at the caller. A small grin crept across his face as he realised it was Sharada. "Heheheh... So she phoned me back after all. So much for the tough love exterior." He paused for a few moments, deciding on purpose to string out the ringing. Just as the final ring was about to strike, he pressed the accept button and held the poketch within his mouth and ear.

"Yo, toots. Decided to phone me after all?" A small laugh escaped his lips and he shook his head despite the fact she couldn't see him. "Hahaha, don't worry i'm kiddin'" He stretched his next tiredly and inquisitively ask her. "You're callin' a bit late. Everything ok? Those police didn't detain ya? They loooooove taking in leads on people like me. Oh well, i'll have to treat ya to a meal if and when we meet up. I don't think i'm being tailed..." He coughed and rubbed his neck. "Somethin' up? I was worried the police might've seized my little note to you."

[Morrigan]

Sharada froze as she heard a beep and a voice following after it. She could immediatly tell that it was Joe which made her breath a sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted was to dial the wrong number. Though as he spoke, his words caused her to raise an eyebrow, "Toots hm? Making up little pet names for me now?" A little smile crept over her face too as he mentioned them meeting up again, "A meal? Haha! A nice enough offer, but I don't date thieves." As she continued to listen to him, she sat back deeper into her chair, twirling a single strand of hair around in her finger tips, "... And nah. The police all seemed to flock towards you, I doubt they even noticed you handing it to me." She untwirled her finger from her hair and reached towards the piece of paper on the table. Looking at his number, a mischevious grin crept across her face, "So dont worry, your number is safe with me~"

Folding the paper up, Sharada placed it back into her bag. Her eyes turned slightly to look out the window. It was pitch black outside, maybe it was a little late to phone him after all, "Hm... I suppose it is a tad dark outside. But I feel you'll be pleased to hear what I have to propose to you." She seemed to fall silent for a moment before letting out another sigh, "Well... Deffinatly not that sort of propose." Reaching for her belt, Sharada picked out the Pokeball which held the shiny Slugma inside. Examining it for a moment, she spoke once more, "Getting straight to the point... I have a Pokemon which you might be interested in."

She gently placed the Pokeball down on the table in front of her and began to gently roll it from side to side with her fingertips, "He is somewhat slow, so he might be a usefull distraction on your little thiefing games. But I would guess with a bit of time, he can get pretty strong." A moment later, a more serious look glazed over her face, "It's a Slugma. I'm only offering it to you because I dont know anyone else to ask. Besides, if I just stick it away, it almost like a waste of potential..." A little smile appeared on her face, lightening her voice she tried to put on a cuter tone, "I know you would just love to trade with me, right?~ ...Ooh! I almost forgot!" The fact that the Slugma was special was Sharada's little surprise for Joe, hoping that he would sweeten the deal she added it on the end, "Did I mention he was Shiny?"

[The REAL Joey]

Joey's eyes lit up at the thought of receiving a rare and elusive Pokemon. "Heeeeeeeey, now this sounds like the kinda deal that Joey loves." As she commented further on about it and dropped the little bit of information that it was shiny, his weary eyes soon lit up with excitement at the aspect of obtaining it. "So it's a Shiny Slugma? Huh. Well, that certainly doesn't sound like a bad deal to me. Like you said, I can always do with some slow distractions, especially one as special as that. I mean, how many people can say they've come across a shiny Slugma?" He thought over the different possibilites it posed and then proceeded to slowly rub his hands together.

After remembering he was still on his poketch to Sharada he jumped on the spot slightly and quickly responded to her. "Sure, i'd love to take 'im of your hands." He looked at his poketch and thought momentarily. "It's kinda late though isn't it...? I'm eager enough to get him now. I take it you're in Cherrygrove still?" He hummed to himself, still in thought and drummed his fingers on his arm. "I'm in Violet so I can't exactly meet you in person." Joey grimaced to himself, he may be a fast runner but there's no way he'd make it in time from the two cities. However, as he was about to give up hope, a spark of light struck in his mind. "Aha! What if we trade via the PCs that they have available for trainers in the Pokemon Centre?"

The thought of sneaking back into Violet and poking around the Pokemon Centre there for the PC seemed like it could be an exciting opportunity. Of course, if the police spotted him he'd have to make a quick getaway as ever. As his eyes shifted onto the empty night's sky he decided that Lady Luck was on his side. "Tell ya what, i'll head off to Violet's P.C. and i'll contact you via there so we can get a trade started. I need to check my mail..." He trailed off thinking back to all the people he knew from Kanto. It was likely that at least one of them had sent some sort of mail to him. "Oh! I also have something you might like. Let's just say... It's more up your street than mine." He let out a small chuckle and shrugged to himself. "You'll like it, no worries."

[Morrigan]

Sharada grinned as Joe seemed to take her offer with open arms. With a click of her fingertips, Sharada let out a soft laugh, "Haha! Great! Sure, I don't agree with three quarters of the things you do, but hey, you are a strong trainer, so I know you will take good care of him." She let out another laugh, quickly shrugging her shoulders after thinking over what she had just said, "Pah, today is a good day, so I hope my kind words to you will fill up your ego."

But one thing she didn't really think about was the trade. She had never really done one before, but she had seen people now and again trading in Pokemon Centres. From her chair, Sharada slowly looked around the Pokemon Centre, "Eeerm... Yeah, I'm still in Cherrygrove..." she replied, suddenly pausing as she spotted the trading machines. "Ah-ha! I think I have just spotted what we can use. It seems they are still on too." Sharada lifted her spare arm and began to gently rub the back of her head, feeling slightly guilty she muttered an apology to Joe, "S-Sorry... Perhaps I should've rang in the morning? I just wasn't sure when you were free from your date with the police."

Sharada blinked at one of Joe's comments about heading towards the pokemon centre, "...You are heading to a Pokemon Centre? Hold up Joey, where the heck do you sleep at night?" She added a quick laugh to try and make a joke out of it. Though a part of her kind of hated him, she couldn't help but smile at the same time. She was just glad that he couldn't see her, "But thanks Joe, I appreciate it. You take your time going over your emails and whatever... Ooh and if you bump into any police, just run for it."

A soft yawn soon escaped from her lips before she continued, "I do believe those little trading machines have little screens, so you can gaze at my beautiful face~" Though trying to sound serious, she soon burst into a fit of giggles before sliding back in her chair and standing to her feet, "Just kidding!... And hey, I'm looking forward to what you are going to give back to me. Hopefully it'll be worth it, hm?" She moved the Poketch away from her ear and gently held her finger over the button, "Seeya soon, Joseph." she grinned, pressing the button to quickly hang up before he could make a come back.

[The REAL Joey]

As Shar talked about his ego he raised an eyebrow and looked down at his Poketch. "Ego? ME? Whatever are you talkin' about? Haha ego..." He laughed it off and grinned to himself manically. "Naw, don't worry about it. I have a feeling the night patrol's staking me out as it is anyway. Least if I can get in under their noses they wouldn't suspect a thing." He carried on speaking to his watch but decided that he'd begin walking in from the outskirts and head into the heart of Violet City itself. "Whatever you do, just don't turn on your TV set. I gotta feelin' my face is gonna be smeared all over the news channels accompanied by a most wanted poster. Seems i've been raising a bit too much attention to myself..." He trailed off and thought back to his excursion with the giant Tentacruel. "...Well, not all of it was my problem. Colossal Tentacruels aside." He let out a small smirk. That was definitely one experience he could go without repeating again.

As Shar quizzed him on where he slept at night he reared his head back slightly at her surprise. "Huh? Isn't it obvious? In the great wide open of course! Something comfortin' about having the sky as your blanket when you're sleeping outside." He paused and decided to bring his history as a thief into it. "Of course, if there's an empty house or shed goin' I might just borrow it for the night. Gotta love B&Bs!" He said enthusiastically hoping it'd provoke a reaction from Sharada. "Cheers about the emails. I just realised how long it's been since I had a good chance to look 'em over since I arrived in Johto..." He gradually drifted off from talking as he didn't quite want to let lose he cared about what his mother had emailed to him. Over his early years, being without a dad was hard and he developed a strong bond with his mother. Last thing he wanted was being a momma's boy to the Pokemon community. He had his outlaw image to keep up.

Before Joey could continue their conversation much longer, he noticed Sharada had hung up on him and he let out a bemused sigh. "Joseph? What kinda name's Joseph? I hope she knows that's not my birth name..." He rubbed his temples soothingly before darting off into the urban sprawl of Violet. During their little conversation he had pretty much made it through the suburbs without being spotted. Just the last stretch and he was home dry. He carefully headed down one of Violet City's many alleyways and used his prior knowledge of the place to his advantage. Once or twice he nearly stumbled across a patrol man but was fortunate enough to avoid them. That, or they weren't all that good at their jobs.

Before long, Joe had made it to his final destination for the night: Violet's Pokemon Centre. "Haha, 'bout time..." He looked carefully up and down the street before blindingly dashing towards the front doors. They opened before him quickly and he skidded into the place. Considering the hour it wasn't all too surprising how empty it was. Joey looked around and noticed a young man sleeping on a sofa and the typical Nurse staff over behind the reception counter. He gave her a quick smile and nod before waltzing over. "Might as well give my team a heal." He handed his Pokeballs onto the counter and leaned on it casually with his elbow propping up his head. "Just these Pokes, thanks." the Nurse smiled at him and replied. "Right away, sir!" She took the Pokemon up from the counter and slotted them into the machine. Joey lifted his head up slightly and noticed in the corner was a PC that Sharada had mentioned.

Before he had much longer to think about using it, the Nurse returned to the counter. "Thank you for using our service, your Pokemon are back to perfect health!" She handed them over with a warm smile and Joey accepted them. "Cheers." He placed them back on his belt and moved over to the PC. With Joey's back to the Nurse, her face became slightly perplexed as if torn. "That's the guy the police told me to look out for but... He doesn't seem anywhere near as outlandish as they described. Plus his Pokemon's happiness seemed pretty high...Oh what to do..." She stood at the counter and concentrated hard to herself. Meanwhile, Joey, unbeknownst to the Nurse's thoughts, logged himself into the PC with his trainer card. "Let's see... Woah... These are pretty different from the ones in Kanto. I best phone Shar to let her know i'm gonna be slow..." He stretched out his arm and pushed his jacket sleeve back and keyed in Sharada's number into his Poketch. The tone rang but he eventually got through. "Hey, it's me. Just letting you know, I made it safe and sound and i'm just logging in now... Except..." He scratched his head absent mindedly as he looked at the PC screen. "Just a bit clueless on how these Johto PCs work. Any ideas?" He put a hand down on the desk and began tapping his fingers along.

[Morrigan]

As Sharada hung up on the call, a bemused look spread across her face, "W-wait? A Colossal Tentacruel?" she mumbled under her breath. The faint sound of the TV near the Poke Center's desk caught her attention, but it only seemed to be the weather report for the following morning. She shrugged her shoulders slightly and turned her back, beginning to walk over to the computers.

Though whilst her back was turned, the TV had changed back to the news. There was a photograph of a huge Tentacruel, with a breaking news bulletin flying across the bottom of the screen. This caught the Cherrygrove nurse's attention and she began to watch it intently. There seemed to be two figures in that very picture, a male and female, though the male was easier to make out. Sighing, the nurse looked under her desk. She had recieved a Wanted Poster earlier that day... Of Joe. "Hmm... Well, no signs of him just yet." She looked up to see the young trainer at the computer and slowly turned to her Chansey, "Just that young lady. Oh well, thats good. Perhaps I should contact another nurse." she spoke, slowing walking to her own personal computer.

In the meantime, Sharada had also slotted her trainer card into the PC and it had brought up a variety of options. She gently tapped her fingers on the desk, thinking of what to do, "Weeell it doesnt seem I have any emails. Then I'm guessing that is my Pokemon Box?... Ooh, perhaps one of these exchanges your--" A soft buzzing of her Poketch caught her off guard, quickly, she pulled back her sleeve and pressed the accept button, "Hey hey!" she greeted, soon hearing Joe's voice in return. She couldn't seem to hold back her laughter as Joe said he wasn't too sure of what he was doing. "Ooh c'mon Joey~ I came all the way from Hoenn and I still know whats going on..." she slowly trailed off, realising that he had probably never even used the computers before. He was wanted after all.

With a shrug of her shoulders, Sharada placed her spare hand on the mouse of the PC, "Well, if you take the mouse and hover above each of the icons, they will tell you what they are. Though the picture makes it pretty obvious." She moved her mouse icon up towards a picture of a pidgey holding an envelope, "See the cute Pidgey? If it is moving, it means you have some mail. Just click that and you can read it." Her eyes glanced away from the PC screen to see a tube-shaped machine connected to the PC, "You should see a little machine next to the PC monitor, thats where you stick Pokemon you are going to trade... But of course, we have to find eachother first." Sharada turned her head slightly and grabbed herself a seat, pulling it towards herself she sat down, "But first, you should check you're emails." Amazingly, she didn't burst into laughter but instead spoke in a soft whisper, "...I'm sure your mum is worried about you."

[The REAL Joey]

Joey listened to Sharada as she mentioned she was from Hoenn. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're foreign to these lands to. Well, i've not really used PCs all that much so I haven't a clue what I am doing. The one I had back at home was a bit more straight forward..." He scratched his bandanna as he listened intently to Sharada's directions. As she slowly went over the various little icons he realised just how simple it was after all. "Ah what do you know. So it wasn't al that hard..." As he looked at the incoming mail icon he noticed it was moving. "Oh, seems I do have some mail. Hold on, lemme just click and see how much I got..." Before he decided to look he undid his poketch and placed it down on the PC desk. "Okay, I just placed my Poketch in front of me. This way I can talk with out holding my hand up all the time. Okay back to mail..." He fell silent and clicked onto the icon. To his chagrin it would seem that he was inundated with hundreds of new messages.

"WHAT THE?!" The sight of seeing so much mail made him feel rather uncomfortable, so much so, he nearly jumped a foot into the air. "S-Shar! I have like a thousand new mail from people..." His eyes twitched and he slowly scrolled down and took a few of them in. "Wait... A lot of them seem to be mindless spam advertisements from various companies. You've got Medicare Pharmaceuticals, Earl's Training Academy..." He shook his head. "How come I got so much?" He sighed to himself and thought about what to do. "Guess i'll just search for people's names who said they'd contact me." He began typing in some names but froze as Sharada mentioned his mother. "Hey wait. What do you mean my ma? What makes ya think I even speak to her anymore?" He paused defencelessly, his image was nearing tarnishing! As he finished his sentence, his search returned with two results. Both of which were from his mother.

He anxiously clicked on the first email sent to him and began reading through it thoroughly. It seemed that his mother had sent him a message telling him how proud she was of him despite the fact he had gotten on the wrong side of the law more often than not. There were also some comments telling him that despite his father's cold rejection of them, Joey was an entirely different person from his father. Joey fell silent at the message and continued to read on. His mother spoke on about how everyone in Fuschia was doing and the many changes that were happening there. It would seem the gym leader Koga had stepped down and his young daughter had now taken over. The Safari Zone has also moved out of Kanto much to the surprise of the community. As his eyes drew to the end of the message one final sentence made him chuckle. It seems his friends Rocko and Eightball constantly came round for some of his mum's special lasagne bake.

After realising he had been quiet for longer than a few minutes he abruptly broke the silence and responded to see if Sharada was still there. "Hey! Shar? Sorry I went all quiet on ya. I had a pretty long message from someone important. Seems like my old hometown of Fuschia is doing okay. A few changes such as the Gym Leader and Safari Zone company leaving but ehh... That's life eh? My buddies from the Kanto Biker Federation seem to be okay as well. So that's always good." He thought happily over his experiences there and decided to ask a bit about Sharada's history. "So. Hoenn. Any news on stuff happening there? You've not said much about the place." He asked wryly, hoping to get some better understanding of her.

[Morrigan]

As Joe began to take off his Poketch, Sharada had to pull it away from her ear due to all the scruffling. But she too decided to take her's off and place it on the desk in front of her. Letting out a soft yawn, she lent backwards in her chair, placing both of her hands behind her head, "Have fun with your mail." she spoke, her eyes looking towards her own computer screen. She hadn't recieved any mail from her own parents recently herself, but no amount of staring seemed to make any mail appear. Rather than jumping at Joe's outburst about the amount of spam mail he had, she made a little snicker, "Hehe. No worries, I get it all the time too. They probably just type in random trainer numbers and they get sent all over the place. Just delete it all."

Though it seemed as if Sharada had hit a nerve when she mentioned his mother. A sly smile appeared on her face and she lent in closer to her Poketch, "Ahhhhhh! I see! Joey is a little mummy's boy~" After a short moment of giggling, she slowly shook her head, "C'mon. Her little baby has left out on an adventure. Thief of not, she still loves you. Ooh oh, but of course! You don't speak to her at all, so I am completely wrong."

After Sharada spoke, everything fell silent for a good few minutes. Her eyes were glued to her own message icon, but she was also listening out for Joe. There wasn't any sniffling, so he must've been okay. In fact, she heard a quiet chuckle which made her laugh too. His voice soon escaped through the Poketch once more after what seemed like forever, making Sharada sit up abruptly in her seat. She listened to him carefully, Fushica or Kanto for that matter, wasn't somewhere she had been before, so it was somewhat interesting to her. Her eyes slowly narrowed as he mentioned someone had sent him an email, she stuck her tongue out in a mischievious manner before speaking, "Someone special eh?... Who is the unlucky sap?"

There was suddenly a short pause on her end when Joe asked about Hoenn. She looked at her message box and inside was only one message from atleast a week ago. She made a soft sigh before deciding to speak, "...Well, as you know, I'm from Hoenn. Or more specifically, Dewford. We're only a small island, so not much really goes on. We have a few houses, a poke center, poke mart... Ooh! And a Gym!... In fact, Brawly is probably about the only good thing from back at home." She seemed to turn slightly red, covering her cheeks with her hands and giggled like a school girl, "He makes fighting-type pokemon look so cool~" Her eyes soon widend as she released who she was actually talking to. With an awkward cough, she folded her arms, "N-Not that I like him or anything!" After cooling back down for a few seconds, Sharada decided to spill a bit more, "But anyways. My mum works a lot and my dad is a fisherman, so I dont really get many emails. It's okay though, I know they are both somewhat proud." Though she tried not to show it in her voice, her expression was somewhat sadder, "...Right?"

[The REAL Joey]

As soon as Sharada further poked at him about the issue of his mum he started to make even more of a reaction than before. "Hey! Come on, between you and me... My ma is really special to me. She went through hell after my dad ran out on us. Sometimes I wish that she didn't have to go through all that." He sighed wistfully and bit his lip. "Me and her have a very close bond you know? So don't get any wrong ideas about me being a momma's boy..." He stopped speaking but quickly followed up with a small rebuttal. "Don't go around spreadin' any rumours ok?! I got a reputation and image to uphold as this outlaw biker who doesn't give a toss about anything." He sighed again but this time it was more out of relief from getting that off his chest. As she joked about the unlucky person he sniffed his nose. "That's my ma you're talking 'bout."

Sharada's recalled her past, a warm contemplative smile came over Joe's face. He found listening to people's history interesting as the majority of people he's spoken to have come from many different walks of life. Sharada's background seemed pretty humble. "Sounds like Dewford's a nice place." As he thought about the Gym Leader called Brawly, he remembered watching about him on a TV documentary. "Brawly? Isn't he the dude who trains in the waves? Sounds like a pretty tough regimen..." He shrugged and imagined himself being pounded by the ferocity of the seas. "Takes all types I guess."

The last sentence Shar spoke made Joey feel slightly uneasy. "Heeey! Don't get all mopey on me. You know, I may not know your family but I can tell without a doubt they're proud of ya." He thought back to the time when he departed from his mother on his journey and then to all the other countless trainers across the regions who had done the same. "Yeah. They are. Just think, this journey is like a timless age old tradition. You hit a certain age and then you're sent off into the big wide world. Armed with some creature, a bag and not much else. Builds character ya know?" A smile crept across his face. "Why not email them? Tell 'em you're doing okay and everything. Sometimes writing it into a message is a lot easier than saying it face to face."

Joe checked back on his emails from his mother and noticed a second one which seemed different from the first due to the fact it had a Pokeball next to his mother's name. "Hey Shar... Why... Hm, why does this email have a Pokeball next to her name? Is that an attachment or something?" Before he could do anything else, an icon popped up alerting him he had received a new message from someone. "Huh...? Hold on Shar, I got another message here." He clicked on the icon and saw that it was from an old friend of his named Looker. "Wow... Had no idea he was still about. Last I saw of him was during the KBF raid by the police..." He paused instantly, realising he had spoken out loud.

[Morrigan]

Sharada soon realised she had struck a pretty deep nerve and decided not to poke at him any further. It was only a few words, but it seemed Joe and his mother had a pretty bad history with his father. It was actually quite heart warming to hear Joe speak so nicely about someone, "I see... So your dad walked out?" she spoke in a quiet tone. As he spoke about her spreading rumours, a laugh escaped her lips, "Haha! You think I am going to spread this stuff around?" A few thoughts passed through her mind and she decided to make one last tease to Joe, "Can you imagine? I can send this information to the police and everyone will know~"

With one last laugh, Sharada shook her head, "No, no. You can trust me, I'll keep it to myself... Infact, it must be pretty tough for you. " She looked at her Poketch and placed her finger on her chin, "I'm guessing you would act all tough around your little gang, so you dont really share much with them? Does that mean you dont really having anyone else to talk to about that sorta thing?" With a soft smile, Sharada said something she probably wouldn't have said the first time they met, "You can always come and talk to me. I don't mind being there for you... When you arent thieving, of course." She then heard a slight sniffle and him then mentioning his mother was his special someone. She grimaced slightly, feeling an overwhelming shadow of guilt cover her, "-Ack! H-Hey, sorry! I-I'm sure your mother is lovely!"

As Joe then spoke about her hometown once more, she began to nod several times, despite him not being able to see her, "Uh-huh! That's Brawly alright!" She clapped her hands together before continuing, "Since it is just a small town, I've even been able to talk to him once or twice. Apprently he trains in the nearby caves aswell... They are pretty deep though, I have never been able to venture too deep in there. It's really dark too. Heh, perhaps you could--?" The thought of taking Joe back to Dewford had somehow crept into her mind. She paused for a few minutes, slightly perplexed at herself, "No, wait. We're in Johto, so thats impossible. SIlly Sharada~" she spoke with a giggle, trying to make a joke out of it.

Sharada gulped as Joe started to say that her parents were most likely proud of her. She wasn't very good with emotional conversations and with all the talk of Joe's family aswell, it made her upset. But crying to Joe was one thing she deffinatly didn't want to do. Gently rubbing her eyes, she made a gentle sniff, "Y-Yeah. I'm sure my parents and your mother are both proud. Let's just try our best, for them." She fell silent for a few moments, before bursting into laughter, "AHAHahahaha- ...I dont think I have ever said anything so cheesey." she tried to speak through her laughter, placing her hand across her mouth, she tried to calm herself down.

Whilst she was laughing, a little noise beeped out from her Poketch. It seemed as if Joe had recieved yet another message, "Well well, someone is Mr. Popular tonight." As Joe asked about the pokeball icon next to the letter, Sharada gave a slightly confused look, "A Pokeball icon? Well, as you said, it could be an attachment. Like, a photograph or maybe even a Pokemon? Hm, I'm not too sure." Her voice slowly trailed off as she heard him muttering to himself. Something about a friend of his called Looker, "Ermm... Looker? KBF Raid?" With a new look of interest, Sharada gazed at her Poketch, hoping she would get an answer, "Joey? Whats is the KBF Raid? And who is Looker? A friend of yours, Im guessing?"

[The REAL Joey]

Joey recalled bitterly what he knew of his father. He only had fleeting memories of his father as he walked out when he was incredibly young. However, through piecing together hints from his mother and looking into his father's belongings he came to the reality that his dad was actually a Team Rocket member and not a particularly nice man at all. "Yeah... I don't know much about my old man but I know he was a nasty piece of work. As far as I know he was involved with the Rockets." He paused before venomously spiting the name. "Pah... Team Rocket... I think my hatred for them stems from that. Oh and the way they mistreat Pokemon. But that goes hand in hand with them bunch of spanners."

Sharada's attempts to leak this to the police did not help matters. "Oh will you quit it?!" He looked around realising his tone was increasing and tuned it down slowly before moving closer to the Poketch. "You never met a guy who gets on with his ma before?" With Shar changing her tune and offering him some moral support, a small grin covered Joey's face. "Heh, that's a sweet offer. I'll have to take ya up on that. It's kinda hard letting people know all this when i'm walking about by myself. " He shook his head as Sharada mentioned his thieving. "HAH! You think i'm really gonna stop doin' that?" He smirked and brushed his bandanna down. "If there's one thing that should be obvious by now... Thievery and me are one and the same. You can't have one or the other."

At the suggestion of visiting the caves in Dewford, Joey raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Huh, you preach against me and my stealing and here you are trying to wrench me all the way to Hoenn." He let out a laugh and calmed down. "Sure, i'd love to go one day. I heard it's full of sea, beaches and lots of treasures. Sounds perfect to me." Sharada mentioning the caves also made Joey ponder something. "Say... You know really dark caves? Isn't there one like that in Violet somewhere? I kinda passed it as I was in a hurry from the cops but if you like we could go walkin' about blindly there for a bit." Joe then realised he had something to prevent that. "Aww wait... I got that Flash move. Looks like we'd have some light."

The snifflings from Sharada's side made him feel slightly concerned. "H-Hey! Don't get all soppy on me. I'm no good when someone gets upset. Can't help but shed a few tears myself." He thought about giving her a hug but realised the distance between them may be somewhat of a problem. Instead he opted to try and cheer her up. "Hey toots, don't worry. I'm getting that Pokemon ready for our trade. I'm sure you'll like it." As he said that, he went back to looking through his messages. It would seem Looker AND his mother had both sent an attachment. "Erm... Looks like I got two attachments. I'll check 'em in a sec." Her questions over another piece of Joey's past were going to take a while to explain. "'Kay, Looker is a really good friend of mine. Possibly my best friend. Me and him go way back and have looked after each others backs for years now."

Joe leaned against the desk and began fondly reminiscing over his friend. "Looker's bit of a suave debonair kinda guy. Always dresses in these fancy suits and hats. Despite that, he's reaaaaal good at what he does. I came into contact with him when we both signed up at the same time with the KBF." He stopped speaking, realising Sharada had likely no idea as to what the KBF was. "Oh... I forgot, you're from Hoenn so the KBF's infamy probably didn't reach your shores." That and of course, they had disbanded but that was besides the point. "The KBF stands for Kanto Biker's Federation. It was a pretty large group of bikers, outlaws and ne'er do wells. I dunno how it happened but I sorta fell into running with these guys. I became their resident thief and had my own bike and everything." He thought back to his old motorbike and sighed. "I could do with that bike here. Some of these routes are loooooong as." He took a small breath of air and continued diligently. "Anyways, the time I joined up, so did he. Thing is, me and him were both the same age so we gravitated towards one another. I was the thief of the lot and he was the surveillance guy. He had his watchful gaze over everything." He stopped, thinking about Looker. "Still dunno how he does it but oh well."

Realising Sharada had also asked about the raid he quickly moved on to speaking about that. "Haha, now that raid was disastrous. For us at least. By the time the police intercepted our group, the KBF had become pretty infamous around Kanto. One time we even mass hopped over to one of the Sevii Islands and tried taking it over for ourselves." He flinched slightly at the outcome of that but continued on with his experience. "Not too long ago, the police decided to finish the group once and for all. We got wind of this huge convoy of Pokemon being shipped in from Sinnoh so we went to raid. Turns out WE were the ones who raided. A lot of my old partners got arrested but I fled. Seems like Looker, Eightball and Rocko did too. which i;m glad for, they were good friends." Joey fell silent and recalled the last of what he remembered. "Anyways, with me being some most wanted outlaw, I kinda decided to do my friends and ma a favour and head out to Johto. I've been meaning to do it for aaaages but... Guess it kinda seemed right." He smiled as he finished. "There. That about covers it."

[Morrigan]

As Joe continued to mention more about his father, Sharada continued to listen intently. It seemed that he was a member of Team Rocket, which made her think for a moment, "Heh, remember when I thought you were a Team Rocket member?... Ah well. I'm sure your mum is proud that her son didn't follow the same footsteps as daddy." With a sudden clap of her hands, a bright smile appeared on Sharada's face, "Say... Imagine if you bump into him over here? You would have the chance to totally paste him into the ground!"

The next thing she knew, she had jumped out of her seat due to Joe's sudden shout. She knew he was teasing him, but she didnt want him to get mad at her. She made a little frown on her saddend expression, glaring at her Poketch, "Theres no need to shout at poor, little Shar~ She is only joking with you." As Joe then mentioned that him and thievery are one and the same, she made a slight hmph noise and turned her head away from the Poketch, "I guess thats so... Just don't thieve from me, then I'll be there for you."

As Joey mentioned visiting Dewford would be a nice idea, her face lit up. "N-No way! You would be interested?!" An excited look spread across her face and she was finding it difficult to stop herself from bouncing around happily, "Over in Hoenn is like being on a permanent holiday! As you said, it's basically sun, sea and treasure! Ooh ooh! You should totally bring your mum or something, it would be a nice little holiday for her too!" She gently tapped her finger against her cheek and thought for a moment, "We basically live on a beach too... Then there is an even larger beach over at Slateport. I'm sure you wouldn't know where to look first since there would be so many girls... " This was probably the happiest Sharada had ever been around Joey, this phonecall had made her like him that bit more, it was quite odd.

Sharada had deffinatly seemed to have cheered up from her earlier sniffle though. Like Joe, she never really had anyone to talk to herself, though his circumstances were obviously a lot different to hers. With a final sniffle, she managed to smile before making a slight nod, "Hee. Thank you Joey, I'm fine though, really." She looked down to her Pokeball which held her Slugma in and smiled in wonderment at what Joey could be offering her in return, "I hope you send me something totally cute, I'm really looking forward to it."

A look of intrigue soon spread across her face as Joe began to explain a few things to her. She learnt about a few of his old biker friends, Looker, Rocko and Eightball and how the large biker gang he was a part of was part of a raid. Though something caught her attention, making her talk over him, "Wait, you mentioned the Sevii Islands just then? I-I think I remember something!" An old memory seemed to flow back into her mind, though a few parts were a bit foggy, "That raid happened around 3 years ago, right?... I think I was there." She looked somewhat shocked, placing a hand on the side of her face gently, "As I said, my father is a fisherman, so I used to go on various trips with him. Once, around three years ago, I took my first trip to the Sevii Islands. We stopped off at Kin Island, or, three island or whatever it is called." A small laugh of disbelief escaped her lips before she continued, "All I can really remember is being rushed into the Pokemon Center and through the windows, all I could see was a group of huge guys on bikes... It was creepy." She soon held her hands to her chest, clutching them together tightly, "Dont tell me that you were a part of that?"

Though still slightly nervous that they could've met all those years ago, Sharada tried to sit back into a more relaxed position in her chair. She looked slightly perplexed still, but she decided to ask about his other emails, "Say... You said you had recieved two attachments, right? Why dont you check them out now? I seem to keep you talking."

[The REAL Joey]

Joey let out a small smirk at Sharada's suggestion of what to do when he bumps into his dad. "Heh, you know it. I think me and him will have a real good father, son bonding session. After all, it's been years..." Joey began reflecting on his relationship with his father, or lack thereof. "All I know is, he's operating here in Johto right now. I heard reports of high levels of Team Rocket activity in the region and it kinda swayed me to visit the place. If I can't find my dad, i'll thwart the group as a whole and get his attention. Hopefully." He chuckled slightly over Sharada being glad he wasn't a Team Rocket member. "Oh that's true. I never would in all honesty. I know 'em for the scum they are. Funny thing is, I may not have followed his footsteps there but I inherited his perchance for stealing. Seems he was a master thief and even had the ability to snag trainer's Pokemon with some gizmo he made." Joey shrugged and sighed. "All I know of him really."

Sharada's suggestion of taking a holiday to Hoenn with his mother sounded like a really good idea. "Heeey... I kinda like the sound of that. My ma don't get out much back in home so I am sure she'll appreciate being able to visit a whole new region. Tell ya what, after this i'll reply back to her email and let her know how i'm doing and taking a holiday in Hoenn." Joey's minded slowly drifted to the other things he had heard about Hoenn and he grinned manically to himself. "Say Shar... Hoenn's got a load of rare Pokemon too? If so, i'm DEFINITELY going. Wonder what kinda things i'll see." A stray thought also entered his head. "AHH!" He almost fell out of his seat. "One of my old friends comes from Hoenn... Harley's her name. Doubt you know her though. She said the place was awesome. Kept rubbin' it in too." Muttered Joey vexedly.

Before he could continue on the subject of Hoenn, a surprise outburst from Sharada concerning the Sevii Islands interrupted him. "Woah, woah, woah, woah. Back up a few yards..." He gulped and cautiously approached the subject. "You're meaning to say you were on Kin Island?" Joey's eyes flinched shut and he slowly breathed as he realised that their paths may have crossed pre-emptively to their meeting in Johto. "Ahh... Eheheheh, well, about that." Joey was becoming a lot more clammy suddenly as he carried on. "Well, I guess that might have been the incident I was talking about..." He paused slightly but quickly followed what he was saying. "No! I was there, don't get me wrong but but... Me and Looker were biking around the beach. Not like we were slacking off or anything mind but..." To try and swerve some of the blame off of his shoulders he piqued up the end of that experience. "Hey wait, not like you had to wait around long enough. Some guy cleared us off. Either way, like I said, the KBF was a huge group, full of all sortsa characters. Not all of them were a bad bunch."

The subtle hint of changing topic was all Joe needed and he followed it with reckless abandon. "Oh! So I have... Let's see, i'll open my ma's first. Seeing as its oldest..." He clicked on the Pokeball icon and was surprised to see that the machine next to the PC deposited a Pokeball. He looked at it oddly and picked it up. "Huh... It was a Pokeball. I wonder what's..." Before Joey had any time to react, the ball burst open with an array of light, forcing Joey to land on his rear end. The Pokemon materialised on the PC desk and looked down at Joey happily.

It seems an unusual looking Exeggcute was staring at him intently. It bobbed its heads down in greeting at Joey and to Joey's huge shock, began speaking to him in fluent English. "Eggcellent! Am I happy to have eggscaped from such a tight spot... My name is Eggbert, pleased to meet ya. By orders of ya ma, i'm eggxtremely happy to support you in your quest." Joey blinked confusedly. Pokemon, or at least most Pokemon in Joey's knowledge, couldn't speak. Yet, how was this Pokemon able to. Almost as if the egg Pokemon had read his mind, he responded instantly. "You crack ME up! Don't ya know? I'm part Psychic. Meaning I can use my powers to speak with you like this. Pretty eggstraordinary don't ya think?" Joey stared at it motionless. This was one surprised he was not expecting. "You like your puns huh?" Joey slowly got to his feet and gave him a tip of his bandanna. "Well, pleased to meet you. I'm sure you'll fit in with my vagabond bunch of Pokemon." The Exeggcute nodded cheerfully and looked at the PC. Joey, who had almost forgot Sharada was on the other line, quickly spoke out to her. "Shar! SHAR! It was an Exeggcute from my ma, and it's not like any i've ever seen before. Plus... IT CAN TALK!" Joey exclaimed excitedly. "Hey, hey hold up buddy, only YOU can hear me talk like this as we share a psychic rapport. Eggfortunately, every other person will think i'm just spouting my usual cry."

[Morrigan]

Sharada began to laugh gently at Joe's replies. He seemed really set on finding his dad and the whole idea of a battle between father and son sounded like quite a thrilling one. Though she soon remembered that he said he was on wanted posters, which made her gently tap a fist into her spare hand, "Hey... I just thought! Perhaps your dad already knows you are here!" She turned her head slightly, looking towards the TV before glancing back to her Poketch, "I havent seen it myself, but you said you have wanted posters around? Well, theres a chance he might've seen them for himself. Ooh! I wonder if he recognises you?"

As Joe also seemed happy about the trip to Hoenn one day, Sharada's happy gleam seemed to grow larger, "Uh huh! Being all alone for this amount of time, I'm sure your ma would appreciate a holiday with her son. I dont really know what she is into, but I'm sure there would be plenty of things around which would be to her liking." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Plus, I highly doubt Hoenn police would've heard of you. So it would be pretty much a break for you, too." He then mentioned another friend of his, Hayley, but shook her head as she mentioned her name, "I doubt it too... But she is deffinatly right in saying that it is amazing over there, well, only if you like the ocean. And it's as you said, we have a whole bunch of Pokemon over here, so you could start a new adventure after this!"

The conversation about the raid over in Kin Island soon took a turn for the worst in Sharada's book. She had indeed been there and the sudden change of Joe's tone suggested to her that he was indeed there. Her eyes slowly narrowed at her Poketch, it was a good thing that they were only on the phone, "Y-You're lying! I know you were there!" She gritted her teeth for a moment, trying to remember everything that had happened, "...Grah... They scared the hell out of me and one even threatened my father, just because he tried to go outside..." she spoke, her tone somewhat venomous. Slowly though, she relaxed her voice, remembering the lone trainer who saved them, "And I remember that guy who chased them all out. I'm so glad he was there. "

Still feeling somewhat sour at the thought of Joe being a part of the same gang at the Sevii Islands, she remained silent as she heard a noise from his end. It seemed as if he had recieved something from his mother. There was suddenly a small bang and a little pokemon cry. Sharada looked up, somewhat shocked and leant into her Poketch, "Joey?! Whats going on?! Are you alright?!" she yelled to him, tripping over a few of her words. Again, there was a series of Pokemon cries, but they didnt seem familiar to her. She gulped for a moment, hoping that Joey was okay, but it wasn't long before she finally heard a reply back from him, "Ooh thank goodness." she mumbled, sitting back in her seat once more. As he spoke however, it caused her to raise an eyebrow, "...A talking Exeggcute? You are joking, right?"