<div class="floatleft">(http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/7554/pkmntrainericon.png)</div><div class="floatright">(http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/7048/parasicon.png)</div><div align="center"><strong>[Vermilion City]</strong></div><div align="center"><strong>[Samantha &amp; Parsley]</strong> (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=137245.msg6139735#msg6139735)</div><br/>Samantha adjusted her glasses and squinted at the map in her hands.  "Well<em>that</em>isn't right," she muttered, tracing her finger along one of the many intertwining routes.  "I only left Vermilion ten minutes ago.  But according to<em>this</em>, I should have hit ocean already.  Strange.  I didn't know there was any ocean between Vermilion and Saffron City."<br/><br/>A bright orange claw reached over the addled woman's shoulder and scratched at the map.  She glanced over her shoulder at the little bug clinging to her backpack, then back at the map.  Realization dawned.  She turned the map right-side up.<br/><br/>"Aha!  There we are!" she cried.  "Well that would explain it.  And here I was regretting the fact that I forgot to pack a swimsuit.  Thank you, dear."<br/><br/>The paras just stared, too exasperated to respond.  Doctor Greene smiled brightly, taking stock of her surroundings again.  It was truly a beautiful sunny day on Route Six, the perfect weather for walking.  She'd left her bike back home in Celadon and hadn't regretted it for a moment.  In her mind callouses built character, and if her feet were anything to go by she had<em>that</em>in spades.<br/><br/>She tucked the map away,<em>reasonably</em>sure that she couldn't possibly get lost on such an easy route.  Not that getting lost worried her overmuch.  In fact, she often welcomed losing her way, because it provided excellent opportunities for spontaneous exploration.  But for now Samantha had more serious concerns weighing on her mind.  The broadcast from Professor Oak had seemed terribly urgent, and without having any other way to know if anyone else had responded she had taken it upon herself to check things out.  His voice had been even more strained than she remembered.  She couldn't blame him, with things as they were.<br/><br/>The effects of the power outage were immediately evident as she entered the border station into Saffron.  She'd had to open the doors manually for starters, and the electronic billboards were conspicuously dim.  When an entire city went dark things always got bad quickly, and Samantha had no intention of lingering for long.