<div align="center">Azalea town<br/>Julian &amp; Mac the Dratini</div><br/>Julian sighed lightly, shifting his gaze across the rather run down pokemon center that fell into disarray as soon as Team Rocket took over using the guise of Silph co. To think, it used to be a successful building that offered it's service free of charge to any passing trainers. The sight of the building now, not even bringing in enough funding to keep itself in business, was a sickening sign of the way things were changing. Pokemon centers used to heal entire groups of the small portable creatures in a matter of minutes, but now it took hours for Pokemon to recover from battles. Still, one good night's sleep later and pokemon could recover from just about any kind of wound, so Julian supposed it wasn't all that devastating. He often wondered how the pokemon felt about being healed so quickly, just to be tossed right back out into battle. Maybe taking some time to rest and recover legitimately would actually do his comrade a lot of good.<br/><br/><br/>He turned his attention away from the pokemon center, looking around to find the town to be surprisingly peaceful all things considered. He had heard rumors that there were supposed to be Team rocket members in the area, but that turned out to be a lie. Figures. At least he was able to get his Dratini a little bit of combat practice in, so the two wouldn't be totally green together once the battle against the criminal organization started in full. Just when he was about to see if there was a place where he could rent a room for the night, his poke'Gear suddenly rang with life. After the initial shift of surprise, he nodded to himself and pressed the answer button.<br/>"Hello?"<br/><em>“Julian Arrowind? Your mother said you'd be willing to help us.</em><br/>"yeah, what do you need?"<br/><em>"Pokepoachers in Mahogany Town have increased their criminal activities recently. Colonies of Slowpoke are being captured for their Slowpoke Tails, which are considered a delicacy and luxury food. Farfetch’d have also been trapped and used in stews for the annual Johto Feast, which is only a week away. <br/><br/>But the most dire and unstable situation is that of the Stantler hunting. Although the Stantler have been known to ram unsuspecting traverlers and although they are naturally skittish and tend to flee in the presence of peoples, they are becoming more bold. Due to this, poachers have been hunting the Stantler for their heads, which are used as ornate decorations for the wealthy. Their regal “horns” are also used for medicinal purposes as a sleep aid and many Stantler have been trapped simply for their antlers. The Johto Feast is a vital event for the Johto economy, but at what cost? We can’t wait until these Pokemon are driven to extinction, but stopping the Johto Feast is not feasible either. If you can make it to Mahogany or Ecruteak, I’ll let you know how you can help. Please, it’s urgent!”</em><br/><br/>Julian nodded, taking a moment to fully grasp the seriousness of this moment before he gave the answer that the person on the other end of the line was likely expecting.<br/>"Consider it done, I'll be in Mahogany by midday tomorrow at the latest."<br/><br/>With that, Julian gave a determined nod and headed out into Ilex forest. He wouldn't have time to poke around to see how the local wildlife was doing, he'd likely just spend some time in there to train up Mac a little if the opportunity arose and move right on along to Goldenrod City, again, likely just taking a few moments to resupply before he moved on. This was a dire situation and he didn't have time to play around and go shopping at that INSANE mall that Goldenrod city had.<br/><br/>He'd have to keep Mac hidden though. Dratini was a pretty rare pokemon EVEN BEFORE all this mess happened.