Jared finally accepted that he was physically unable to keep up with these superhumans. There was still quite a bit of ground ahead of them, and sucking it up and pushing through wasn't going to work. So, after another few hours, Jared finally couldn't take it anymore and he finally asked for a rest.

Seeing the thin young man lying on the ground gasping for breath, the three others looked at Jared questioningly for a moment.

Richard broke the stalemate by bringing over the remaining water.

"Sit up and drink your fill. There's a stream nearby, so drink as much as you can now, and then I'll go refill the flasks fully. "

Getting his breath under control, Jared unceremoniously chugged the rest of the water until his belly bloated.

Waving, Richard collected the flasks, and then he set off.

"Take a rest here, and I'll be right back in no more than twenty minutes."

Watching the ranger and his pokemon leave, he had complicated feelings. When he had first met the ranger, he thought the man was a complete, and utter ass. However, this was strangely considerate. Kind, even.

Setting down his bag, Ryan began rummaging through it, "I guess we have no choice, Poliwag is hungry anyways."

Pulling out some reddish-black oval-shaped berries from the bag, Poliwags eyes instantly lit up.

Poliwag didn't actually feel that hungry, but he would never turn down his favorite treat!

"Polii poliii"

Wagging his tail, the slimy creature began happily nomming the berries straight out of Ryan's hand.

Meanwhile, Gilbert sat next to Jared, who was in the process of catching his breath. Strangely, he didn't speak about caterpie facts this time.

"Richard told us that you were lost in the forest, and I've never seen your... I mean to ask, did you perhaps get separated from your pokemon?"

Jared sat up, patting his water-filled belly contentedly.

"I don't know."

"What about your bond... erm, do you not feel the connection, erm that's not the right word... oh"

His eyes then lit up as he found the words, "Do you feel the tug towards your pokemon? No matter where they are, you should be able to find them."

Jared had actually been asked this once by the old lady back at the lab, but he had forgotten about it.

"There's no tug."

Gilbert brought his hand to his chin, "Hmm, that doesn't mean the connection is broken, just weakened."

He then shook his hands frantically, "Oh, don't worry, I'm sure you will be reunited in Pewter City."

Jared lied.

"Right."

.

When Richard returned, the men resumed their journey.

Jared continued the theme of asking for breaks when he needed to catch his breath. Luckily, the other group members still obliged him reluctantly.

As another night and day passed, the group was in good spirits. It was smooth sailing now.

Besides the screaming of Jared's muscles, he too would be happy to have this journey come to an end.

.

With the sun hanging lower, Jared was grateful to finally hear that they were nearing the end of the trek. The group's spirits were high when they neared the final hill. Just over this point, they would see the city!

As they neared the top, they heard a voice coming from a slanting tree. A man seemed to be hiding next to it.

"Richard, is that you?"

Turning, the three spotted a man walking next to an ugly-looking two-foot-tall pink pokemon. With its mean face and four black-tipped floppy cone-shaped ears, Jared identified it to be a snubble.

Wearing the same uniform as Richard, the two men bumped fists.

"Good to see you billy"

"So, how was it?"

The ranger shrugged.

"Nothing to report, it was uneventful as usual. I can't wait to get home and take a bath."

The man laughed, "Alright, then I won't keep you. After my patrol, maybe I'll see you at the station."

"Sure."

As the man and his pokemon walked in another direction, Jared thought that he must be one of the people currently preventing entry into the Viridian forest. Or perhaps not.

As if it had sprung out from a hole, the city sat in a massive crater that gently sloped down.

To Jared's eyes, it didn't look much like a city. A little town at best.

While the city center looked more developed and even contained what looked to be a small medieval castle, most of it was farmlands with a few spotty homes in the far reaches.

'Two thousand at most,' Jared thoughtfully measured.

As they declined the hill, several people would stop the group, but they would soon let them go after identifying Richard.

At the periphery of the settlement, the roads were dirt, but they soon made way for cobblestone further in.

It wasn't hard to notice there was no pollution. The city smelled as fresh as the forest they came from, but Jared felt something was off somehow.

When he thought about it, he realized why. When he had been in that metal building, he had assumed the technology of this world would be more advanced, but that wasn't quite the case.

If you were to look at the oldest picture you can find of japan, you'd be surprised that the architecture actually held similar oriental styles to one another.

Besides the obvious castle at the center of the city, the buildings were generally not more than one story tall. Instead, they seemed to enjoy taking up as much ground as possible.

At a certain point, Gilbert and Ryan parted from the group. This left just Jared and Richard to their own devices.

Richard seemed to take Jared's silence for a surprise.

"Impressive isn't it? Have you ever been to a large city like this?"

However, Jared almost laughed. When had a town of fewer than two thousand people ever been called a large city?

They didn't enter the city proper however. Instead, they went along the periphery.

From time to time, people would wave at them, and Jared's eyes would light up when he identified their pokemon. In this world, it seemed like every single person had one. He now began to realize how weird it was that he didn't have even one.

As they walked through the western part of the 'city', they came upon a small rural home. If you looked around, the next house wasn't for more than a mile, so Jared was a bit confused when Richard stood before the doorway.

"This doesn't look like a police station."

Coughing to hide his embarrassment, Richard waved his hand.

"I'm not going to take you there."

Jared was suspicious.

"Then what is this?"

Richard sighed.

"Jared, I don't want to make life difficult for you. I just wanted to bring you somewhere nice while we figure all of this out, and I just want to say, I did hear about your condition from Rachel. She told me you were healing very slowly, but at the time I didn't pay enough attention to that fact. I. should. have.

He then shook his head.

"I was convinced you had to be affiliated with those two lowlives, and it clouded my judgment.

Jared raised an eyebrow.

"So, what happened to them?"

"Well, nothing much. They were jailed for a few days before being released... but you have to understand that those people are really no good. "

"They saved my life."

"Well it's... they..." Richard rarely stumbled over his words.

"They are with some bad people. I know this because they bear their insignia. A tattoo on their body."

"Then why weren't they kept in prison?"

"Well... it's technically not illegal to have a tattoo."

Seeing Richard getting so red in the face, Jared was having the time of his life.

"Then were you frustrated?"

Richard blinked, not at all expecting that question.

"About what?"

"Were you frustrated when you let them go? Is that why you interrogated me on a hospital bed?"

"It wasn't a-"

A few people happened to be walking along the dirt road, and an old lady in a white dress interrupted him, "Hey Richard! nice weather we are having."

Richard nearly choked, but he still feigned a smile and waved back "Ah, yeah, nice."

Turning to Jared, Richard pleaded, "Let's take this inside, okay?"

When Jared didn't budge, he added another word, "Please?"

Not wanting to push the man too far, Jared followed him in.

As the door was about to close, the same elderly voice yelled, "Have a nice day Richard!"

"Just uh, grab yourself a seat."

The place was more modern than expected. There was running water, a proper toilet, even an electric fridge.

Opening the fridge door, Richard asked, "Do you drink lemonade?"

"Sure."

After ten seconds, Richard then took the only other seat at the small table.

"It's inexpensive, and it's all I got besides water, but it's good enough for me at least. "

Drinking from the glass, Jared waited for Richard to speak.

"I'm sorry about what I said to you, but they knew about the lab. I. had. to. be. thorough."

"I now know you had nothing to do with any criminals, but you have to understand... 'YOU DID' show up at the top-secret research lab, and you claimed to have amnesia. You were suspicious, and I have a duty as an officer to investigate.

"Then what changed your mind?"

"Well, I can't know anything for certain, but I believe that someone in a condition..."

Richard paused while finding the words.

"...A condition like yours... wouldn't be going around the forest capturing pokemon illegally."

Jared knew what he meant. If it was normal in this world to have superhuman stamina, then indeed he was abnormal. He still held reservations, however. He did nothing wrong and was treated like shit.

Before taking another sip of the lemonade, he voiced a thought instead, "What's the difference between capturing a pokemon illegally, and legally?"

Richard raised a hand, "Let me stop you there, the point is, they weren't supposed to be there at all. I don't want to argue about this anymore."

They drank in silence after that, and when Jared's cup was empty, Richard refilled it.

When Jared finished the second glass, Richard tried to smile, but it came off creepy.

"I believe you alright?"

Jared frowned.

"Really I do."

Jared finally agreed.

"Okay."

"So with that said, do you remember anything that can help identify you? For example, your parents, a friend, anything at all."

Jared pretended to think for a moment before shaking his head.

"What about where you used to live? Or your pok... uh, I meant to say, do you remember where you grew up?"

Jared caught Richard's slipup, and queried himself, 'Was he about to ask me about my pokemon? Why did he stop himself?'

Putting that thought aside, Jared answered the question, "I don't recognize anything"

Richard let out a long sigh.

"This is going to make things a bit more difficult."