Lucy and Oak had been searching for days, asking and backtracking through every town and city in Kanto. Now they had returned to Cerulean City.
“Lucy, she’s not in Kanto anymore. We’ve searched through every town and city. She’s not here anymore.” Oak groaned. He was getting very tired of Lucy’s unrelenting determination to find Jen.
“The first and third gym leader admitted that they had seen her. She needs all eight badges in order to go against the Elite Four, and I doubt it will take her just a couple of tries to beat them. She would need to go out into the wild for days to train. Oh, God! She’s somewhere in the wild!” Lucy screamed.
Oak groaned in annoyance. “For Pete’s sake!”
Some of the locals stopped and approached Lucy. “Did you lose someone, ma’am?”
Lucy nodded sadly. “My daughter, Jen, has been missing for days. Here is a picture of her.”
They looked at the picture and smiled. “We saw her a couple days ago at the Hero of the Year Festival.”
Lucy and Oak’s eyes widened, but for different reasons. Lucy grinned wildly with renewed hope, while Oak’s heart sank for Jen.
“The festival was in Rota. We just got back, and I think we saw her in town the other day.”
“Thank you so much!” She beamed. She turned to Oak with a smug look on her face. “Let’s go, Oak. I’m so close to getting my baby back.”
Ash and Misty had split up when they heard Lucy and Oak were backtracking to find Jen thanks to a secret text from Oak. Misty decided to stay in Cerulean City just in case Jen returned, while Ash and Pikachu continued to search throughout the region for her.
Misty had spotted Lucy and Oak when they reentered the city, and listened in on their conversation with the locals.
“We saw her a couple days ago at the Hero of the Year Festival. The festival was in Rota. We just got back, and I think we saw her in town the other day.” The locals said happily to Lucy.
“She’s in Rota?” Misty quickly grabbed her phone and texted Ash. “Jen is in Rota. Her mom knows. Hurry!!”
She watched from her hiding spot as Lucy and Oak began to leave. She had to stall them for as long as she could. She rushed after them and called out, “Professor Oak!”
Lucy and Oak stopped and turned towards her. Lucy glared at her and huffed, “You again? What do you want now? We’re in a hurry.”
“I was wondering if you found your daughter yet? Any luck?”
“Yes, I found my daughter no thanks to you, and now we’re going to go get her.” Lucy replied dismissively.
“Oh, I’m so happy for you!” Misty said, blocking their way. “But, I kind of need Professor Oak’s help with something at the moment.”
Oak perked up and smiled, quickly catching on. “What do you need, Misty?”
“Oak, I don’t have time for this! You know what, you can stay. I’ve waited too long to get Jen back. I’m going to Rota without you. See you back in Pallet Town.” She growled, stalking off towards Rota.
Two teenage girls ran up to Lucy and stopped on either side of her. “Hey, we heard you were going to Rota?”
“We’re heading up there too to meet a friend. Mind if we tag along with you?”
Lucy gave them a one-over and pushed forward. “Don’t slow me down. I will leave you both behind.”
“Have no fear, ma’am. We won’t do such a thing. Oh, and by the way, I’m Lacy and this is Clara.”