Red Button Shenanigantery: The Youngest Professors

Arrival

The transfer was complete, I was safe, my backpack was with me, and judging from the sound of another set of feet landing I could safely assume my girlfriend had come with me. I went to check my phone only to immediately realize something was wrong.
My clothes were way too loose and my hand could barely hold my phone up. Turning to face my girlfriend while still being careful not to trip over my barely held up shorts that the bottoms of reached my now way too large shoes, I suddenly realized a flaw in what I had requested.
“Why is there a child with me?”
I was answered with giggling and getting tackled as the voice of my girlfriend said “So are you, and its adorable, I love it.”
It was only when I looked down while catching her that I processed that I was a child too. We had both been reverted to what I could only asume was around the age of five.
“This isn’t exactly what I expected when I picked the Pokémon world.” I replied as I hugged her with one arm while still trying to hold my shorts up with the other.
“So what do we do about this?”
“No choice but to wait it out, don't even know how to reach the one that did this, but this does mean that our original plan needs some reworking.”
“Oh?” She finally let go and leaned against a wall which seemed to be effective for holding everything in place so I decided to imitate it.
“Yeah, just wandering as trainers doesn't really work when you’re this young, too many people will ask questions.”
She crossed her arms and frowned. “You have a point. Any ideas?”
“I mean there is still plan B, and we can even just improv from there. Want me to remind you on the details?”
“Yes please”
I set down my backpack and used it as a seat as I explained everything, from the fake histories we were adopting and how we were going to use that at least until we got to our target destination to what direction I hoped to head in to ease suspicion off of us since we both wanted to live relatively peaceful lives in this world.
After the fairly long explanation we could hear foot traffic at the end of the alley again and it was time to get moving if we were going to get anything done.
We worked together to get a bit less disheveled and used our backpack straps to either pin things in place or tie them higher for the sake of walking. I stuffed some extra socks into our shoes to pad them out and make it easier to hold in place as we walked, and finally when we were ready we worked together to make out way to the entrance of the alley, leaning on each other as we walked.
Upon reaching the sidewalk we asked a passerby where we were and which way it was to the police station and after assuring him that we didn't need help so badly that he needed to accompany us, made our way in that direction.
The sun was high in the sky as we finally found our way to the police station and slowly pushed our way through the door, exhausted from carrying more than our tiny bodies were accustomed to.
The desk officer looked up from their work upon hearing the door closed and suddenly stood up. “Welcome to the Saffron City Police Department… Are you two okay?” They asked.
“We’re fine, just lost… is Officer Jenny available to talk to?” I replied.
“She is out on patrol right now, but I should be able to help you with directions or take you two home.” The officer kindly smiled but his friendly gesture was immediately shot down by my girlfriend responding.
“My mom said that if I need anything in the city to ask Officer Jenny and don’t bother anyone else.”
“I don’t mind, I would be happy to help.” The officer put on their friendliest smile but my girlfriend just wasn't having it.
“No, only Officer Jenny, mom said.” she then crossed her arms and pouted like any five year old would. I can already tell that she is planning to exploit this as often as possible.
“Don’t worry about it, Marissa is just like that, could you just radio out to her and let her know that a pair of lost… orphans… have requested to talk to her? She doesn’t have to rush back, just so she knows we are here.”
“You are strangely polite for someone so young.”
“My father always said manners maketh man, behave with politeness and etiquette so as to be better than the criminals who don't.” I lightly bowed at the end of my statement and sat down.
The officer turned away with a bemused expression and headed off to radio out to Officer Jenny.
Less than half an hour later the door to the station opened up and a tall woman in a police uniform with teal hair and amber eyes came striding in before turning to us with a bright and friendly smile.
“Are you two the ones looking for me? I hear you gave the desk officer some trouble.”
“That is us ma’am, Marissa can be a little stubborn at times. So can I actually but we rarely overlap.” I responded with a smile.
She looked at me and then at Marissa who was now pouting and putting on a show. She really is planning on abusing the crap out of being a kid again, I’d get too embarrassed, so good for her.
“Oh sweetie, its fine, no one is in trouble. But what’s wrong? Why did you ask for me?”
“Mom said, when we are in the city, if we have any problems, to look for Officer Jenny.” Marissa responded.
“So what’s the problem?”
“We don’t know how we got here, and we only just barely found out that this is Saffron City. Our parents always told us that if we ever got separated from them that we had to go to Professor Oak.” I made sure to stare at the floor while speaking, it helped convey the mood I wanted to put out.
“Your parents? Are you two siblings?”
“No” We both immediately responded.
“She’s my best friend. My parents would drop me off at her place whenever they had to go on missions so we got to hang out a lot.”
“He’s my best friend, he helped me hatch a pokemon egg and his hugs are warm.”
“O-oh… okay then, but what happened to your parents? How did you not know what city you were in?”
“Because of Arceus. We don’t know exactly what happened but knowing team rocket they are probably dead.”
“What? Explain.”
“Mom and Dad were pokemon rangers and they fought against team rocket a lot but they became a lot more violent lately. Then they attacked Marissa’s family’s ranch because her dad was a pokemon doctor and was offering Pokémon medicine when he wasn't supposed to. A lot happened, fire was everywhere, our parents were yelling, we were hiding, and then an explosion happened. Then we heard the voice of Arceus who said he would take us somewhere safe with some of our parents things and next thing we knew we were in an alleyway.”
Officer Jenny just stared at us mouth agape as she listened to the short story.
“And now we are here, its all really confusing.” I shrugged and hugged Marissa.
After a few moments Officer Jenny composed herself and finally asked us the question I had been waiting for.
“And you called for me. Why is that?”
“We need help, and I didn’t know who else to reach out to other than the most trusted Officer in the region… or well any region. Officer Jenny is a name everyone recognizes and trusts.”
She seemed to become slightly bashful at that statement but still focused on her duty.
“What can I help you with?”
“As I said before, we need help getting to Professor Oak, but also…” I looked down at my outfit. “I think we need a change of clothes, these are a bit too large for us, I don’t know how or why we wound up in these instead of our own but it’s a bit breezy and hard to walk.”
“And he told me I couldn’t go barefoot!” Marissa chimed in.
Officer Jenny sighed and looked at the two of us. “I don’t suppose you have a way to pay for a bus or taxi, and probably not for clothes either…”
“Nope.” I held out a completely empty wallet just to reinforce the point. “Arceus was kind enough to save us so I’m not ungrateful but it would be nice to have something to pay for necessities.”
Officer Jenny just slumped and looked from us to the front desk. “I will see what we can do, just wait right there.”
She stepped away, behind a door that led to the various officer desks and I could hear her chatting away with a couple different officers. One sounded notably older than the rest, probably a senior or supervisor.
Before long she returned with a smile on her face and told us that the station had a little bit of a fund for odd situations like this and her chief had approved it. Oh so the older voice was the chief, interesting, would have liked to meet him.
“After we get you some clothes, I will drive you to Professor Oak’s lab in Pallet Town. It’s a bit of a long drive so we will have to stop overnight in a Pokémon Center, are you two going to be okay?”
“Yes!” Marissa and I answered in unison. Finally things were moving in the right direction.
Officer Jenny took us to a couple different stores from there. In one we got our clothes, Marissa chose overall shorts and a t-shirt with snorlax on it, I picked shorts and a t-shirt with a growlithe on it. Personally I wanted Gengar but no, ghost pokemon aren’t popular enough for shirt designs. Going to have to fix that when I get older.
At the second shop we got shoes, Marissa and I agreed that whatever we could comfortably run around in was best. Of course we had to test this out by chasing eachother around the shop, there is no better way to do so, though the shop owner would probably argue otherwise. Either way we got what we needed and headed to a third shop, where Officer Jenny got us some simple snacks that fit our tastes.
Finally we were on our way, on the road in the back of a police car… not the most comfortable ride but I’ve had worse in my previous life. Bit of advice, don't go offroading in the bed of a pickup truck, its not fun.
Other than the lack of comfort, the ride went rather smoothly, some of the routes I didn't recognize from the maps I studied and games I played but it is fair to say that real life is far more vast than any of those. At some point Marissa had fallen asleep on my shoulder, and I just stared out the window.
When it started to get dark we pulled into a city checkpoint and Officer Jenny had a quick word with another Jenny that was at the gate before passing through and heading straight for a large Pokémon Center.
It sounded like our Jenny was instructed to hand us off to that Jenny who would take us the rest of the way while our Jenny kept an eye on the city. Then once the new one came back they would trade places again and ours would return to Saffron. It didn't make sense to me but oh well, maybe something to do with department fuel budgets?
Once we stopped at the Pokémon Center, Officer Jenny got out of the car and opened the door for us, I would make a comment about child locks but it is a police car after all. I gently shook Marissa awake who looked around bleary eyed.
“Where are we?” She asked, trying to figure out why we weren’t at Professor Oak’s yet.
“The trip is a bit too far for just one day, but don’t worry, we arrived safely in Viridian City and will be staying overnight at this Pokémon Center.” Officer Jenny replied, sensing the reason behind the question.
At her statement both Marissa and I remembered our roles and tensed up a little, Viridian is the home of Giovanni, head of Team Rocket, the same ones who supposedly killed our (fake) parents. This couldn’t have gone worse…