Pokemon:WhenTwoWorldsCollide 7

"Look Ivy!  It's Sandgem Town!" Carter exclaimed excitedly as a city in the horizon grew larger with every painful step.
I growled.  Gosh, this kid is so annoying.  He's been chatting in my ear ever since breakfast this morning.  Finally I'll be able to dump the brat!  Sweet freedom will be mine!!!
"Yep!" I replied a little too enthusiastic for my usual self. "Let's go!"
"ALRIGHT!!!!  SANDGEM!  HERE WE COME!!!!"  Carter screamed, snatched my hand, and dragged me all the rest of the way to the town.
When we reached the town, I was shocked.  Surrounding the small beach city was a vast, concrete wall with thick, spiraling barbwire topping it off.  Team Galactic grunts patrolled the barrier, and a single gate towered above us.
"W-w-what happened?  Why is this….here?"  I stuttered and gestured to the wall, dumbfounded.
"Seriously?  You are really out of the loop….do I have to explain?"  Carter complained.
"Please.  Enlighten me," I responded, quickly becoming as annoyed as he was.
"Fine….well, after the first Unovian uprising-"
"The what?"  I asked.  By this time, we had filed into the queue in front of the gate in order to enter Sandgem Town.  In front of us were trainers like us who had just made it through Route 201.  Most of them were around Carter's age, but a few of them were older.  One thing worried me though.  There weren't any trainers around my age around.
"The first Unovian uprising, now known as the Commencement?  Seriously, you are really stupid if you don't know about this!!"
"Thanks Carter," I said sarcastically, "Now just.  Please. EXPLAIN!!"
"Ok, ok, just stop interrupting me!  The Commencement was the first act of violence towards the Sinnohians from the Unovaians.  A group of three trainers rose up about four years ago and began to attack one of the Gym Leaders, Maylene.  They believed that she was too young to become a gym leader and that she was too naïve for such extreme battling.  In order to protest, they attacked the gym using Sinnoh Pokémon.  Team Galactic eventually stopped them, but not without consequence.  One of Maylene's new apprentices was killed in the rubble, and that just set everyone off.  SO…that caused more riots, ya-de-ya-de-ya, and to "ensure the safety of the innocent public", they put up these walls at all of the major cities."
"Oh," Was all I could muster.  Just that one mishap caused all of this?!  Wow, I really behind the times….I thought he filled me in on everything…..
We edged forward slowly.  I didn't know what to do once we got to the gate, so I shoved Carter in front of me.
"What are you doing?"  He asked, puzzled.
"Um…just letting you go first!"  I said, a little too cheerfully.
"Ooookkk?" He replied.
He stepped in front of me, still completely confused.  Right before we reached the officer the gate, I noticed that Carter pulled some papers out of his pocket and shuffled him in hands.  But before I could ask him what they were, the guard examined them, ran some weird pen thing over the bottom of them, and ushered him through.
I stepped forward.
"Papers please," the Galactic grunt said.
I handed over my Trainer Card and information.  The grunt looked at them and handed them back.
"Stop fooling around, kid.  Where are your papers?" He responded.
"W-w-w-what are you talking about?!" I asked, confused.  What was he talking about?  Papers?  Did you need to get like a birth certificate or something?
"Come on kid, you're holding up the line.  Just hand me your papers and you can go," the grunt grumbled, extremely annoyed.
"I dunno what in the world you're talking about!" I shouted, exasperated.
The grunt glared at me.  I was obviously in HUGE trouble.  I looked for an escape route as the grunt grabbed my hands and forced them behind my back.
"Well, missy, you're going to have to come with me," he growled as he took some handcuffs.
I sighed.  I'll just have to escape later.  It's not like I'm a terrorist or anything.
All of the sudden, a voice screamed, "Blazka!  Use Smokescreen!"
A cloud of ash and smoke surrounded the gateway, obscuring my vision.  I looked around, coughing, and I felt the grunt's grip slacken.  I elbowed him in the stomach, released my Pokémon, and ran towards what I thought was the direction of the town.  I kept my gaze downward, coughing on the smoke.  My Pokémon followed closely behind me, and Turtwig shot a random Absorb towards the grunts as we entered the town.
After running for a couple of blocks, I exited the smoke cloud and ducked into a random alleyway, breathing hard.  Bidoof, Starly, and Turtwig filed in behind me and sat down in the alleyway, coughing on the smoke.  I squatted down and thought that we could rest for a few minutes before setting out to exit Sandgem as quickly as possible.
"Guys….I…think we made it…." I wheezed.
My Pokémon nodded in agreement.
As I said that, a shadow crossed the alleyway exit, instantly darkening the dead-end street and cutting off my escape route.  I glanced over at the shadow, avoiding the person's eyes.  It looked like a young boy….and a Chimchar.  Wait a minute….
"Carter?"
"Yep!  I owed ya one!" He said, smiling.
Carter stood in at the intersection of the alley and the street with Blazka standing proudly beside him.
"Thanks for saving me, I guess…" I muttered while standing up.
"No problem!" I said.  "I owed ya one after saving Blazka anyways, so now we're even, right?"
"You could say that…." I added quietly.
"Well, now we need to get you registered.  I know you didn't know about this whole Unova tension thingy, but I thought you would know about the papers!!"
"What are these papers away?"
"Well," he said, walking over to me and leaning against the wall, "they're your tickets to traveling around Sinnoh, kinda like a passport.  Since the uprisings had been happening, security's has become very tight.  Everyone has to have this certain paper stating the regular stuff about you, but there's a catch.  You can't just get a paper and fill it out though.  Somebody, your parents, a professor, or anybody with some authority has to sign off on it."
"Well, can't you just forge a signature?"
"No, did you see that weird pen thingy in the grunt's hand?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, that's actually a scanner.  It'll beep when an illegal signature shows up, and then you're in HUGE trouble."
"How did they get all of the signatures of everyone in Sinnoh?"
"A few months ago, Team Galactic took a census and forced everyone over 21 to put their signature on it."
"Great….now what can we do?  Why can't the government be stupid for once!?"
"I dunno…" he thought, stumped, "We could….maybe find someone who could sign it?"
"Like who?  My family's all in Snowpoint now, and I can't just go up to some random person and ask, "Can you sign this sheet for me because the authorities think I'm terrorist?"  I think I'm kinda stuck Carter…."
"Now don't be negat-" Carter began before a crash interrupted him.
My Pokémon sat up, ready to defend us from whatever made that sound.  A metal trash can had tipped over, spilling rotten garbage everywhere.  Turtwig and Blazka growled, sensing danger was lurking behind it.  I snuck stealthily over to the trash can while Carter stood behind me with the Pokémon, ready to call out attacks in case something attacked.  
I looked in the spot where the trash can used to be.  Cowering by some other trash cans was a little Riolu, terrified of the consequences that we might bring upon him.
I crouched down, scooted towards him, held out my hand, and said, "Hey, little guy, it's ok.  I'm not going to hurt you!"
"What is it, Ivy?" Carter asked, walking a little closer.  The Pokémon kept their distance, not wanting to trust the stranger.
"It's…a Riolu," I said as it inched closer to me.
"You….you….you're not going to hurt me, are you?" It said as it cautiously approached me.
"WAIT A MINUTE?!?!" Carter yelled, causing the Riolu to dart back behind the standing trash cans. "IT CAN TALK???"
"Carter!  Quit scaring him!" I said, turning around suddenly.
"What?!?  Have you ever heard a Pokémon talk before?!" he retorted.
"Yes…." I responded.
"WHAT???  WHEN?!?!?"
"Some Riolu and Lucario have telepathic powers, and my mom has a Lucario with that power."  Well, I think she does….it's the only thing I remember about her…except her blonde hair…
"Oh….I didn't know that…"
"Well, now you know, so shut up so you don't scare him."
"Geez…I was just surprised…take a chill pill or something…" He muttered.
"I heard that!!"
He frowned but said nothing back.
"It' ok Riolu.  That's my friend Carter.  He won't hurt you.  He was just surprised, that's all," I smiled.
The Riolu poked its head around the metal trash can.  "Are….are you sure?'
"Yes, it's perfectly fine," I coaxed.
It inched around the bin, ran towards me, and jumped into my arms.
"I….thought….HE WAS GOING TO GET ME!!!" the Riolu cried.
"It's alright," I soothed, "he's just loud sometimes."
"Hey!  And you're not loud?" Carter said.
"Not as loud as you!" I snapped.
"Hey, you two!  Stop it!" Riolu scolded.
We both shut up.
"I heard you talking about the papers.  I know somebody who can help you!"  He said.
"Who?"  I asked, suddenly interested.
"Master of course!" He said, "I can lead you to him!"
Suddenly, the other Pokémon simultaneously whipped their heads around to stare at the entrance of the alleyway.  The pounding of footsteps could be heard along with the shouts of,
"I think I heard voices!"
"It has to be them!"
"They're not getting way from Team Galactic!"
Carter and I looked at each other.  We were stuck.  They had to be closing in.
Riolu heard them too.  His ears perked up and he said, "They're looking for you guys, right?  Well, master can keep you safe!" He hopped out of my arms.
"How?" I asked, desperate.
"Just follow me!" He said.
But Riolu was too late.