Young Writers Society

Sinclair Audley- Pokécentre, Three Island

"Cade?"

The place was once again illuminated with Cade's yellowy light. Sabrina Pond did not look pleased.

"Why did the power go out?"

"Because of the hurricane," Sabrina said, standing up and looking out the window. "Hurricane Nate. The biggest storm that Kanto's seen in fifty years."

"Bigger than Hurricane Lee, you mean?" asked Kristine, referring to the large storm that rocked Kanto in November '08.

"Far bigger," Sabrina said. "And they've blocked my powers. Health and safety regulations. No psychic travel in extreme weather conditions."

"So you mean... we're trapped here?"

"Oh, no," said Nurse Joy, coming out with a stack of candles. "I received a call from Officer Jenny before the power went off. They're coming to evacuate us."

"To where? The mainland?"

"It's going to be affected too, but ever since Hurricane Lee we've been prepared. There's a special evacuation facility in the tunnel between Three Island and Kanto?"

"There's a tunnel?" muttered Sam.

"It's how we'd be leaving anyway," said Sin.

"No, we were going to leave by psychic link," said Jason. "Were you not listening?"

Sin rolled his eyes. "So we should get our stuff?"

Nurse Joy nodded.

Sin repacked his bag- a whole lot roomier and lighter without the egg which he noticed Kristine carefully setting into her own rucksack. I will not be bitter, I will not be bitter. It had been a gift, he could hardly be sad about it.

Across the room, Murtle was helping Hayden to pack invisibly. Sin was rather disgruntled with the pair about what had done that morning in the bathroom. He would get them back, somehow.

There were sirens outside and Officer Jenny rapped on the door which had to be opened manually. "Let's go, everyone!" she called. "Pokécentre's first point of call! Pokémon in balls, please."

Sin's Pokémon did not look pleased and Lumichu actually ran away from Kristine and bounded halfway down the hall before she had him safely back in a Pokéball.

They all climbed into the back of the van. Nurse Joy had a whole crate of Pokéballs and several incubated eggs that had to be stowed carefully and Sin found himself shoved up rather painfully against the crate. Nurse Joy and Sabrina got into the front with Officer Jenny leaving the team by themselves.

"Well this is cosy," said Sam, 'chuffling a little closer to Kristine. "Hi, sunshine."

Kristine rolled her eyes. "So what do we do when we get to the mainland? We need to think of a plan?"

"Cerulean gym," Sam said confidently. "I bet I can beat the leader there with just the Bonsli."

"Cerulean isn't a pushover, trust me."

"Sinclair's from Cerulean," Jason explained.

"Sort of, I mean, Mama lives on Cinnabar, Papa in Cerulean. But I spend most of my time in Cerulean."

"So you know the gym leader?"

"Pretty secretive from what I hear," Sin said shrugging. "I guess we'll find out."

Jason was throwing a Pokéball to amuse himself. "That could end badly," Hayden warned. "There's not a whole lot of room in here- who's in there?"

"Waut," said Jason.

"In an electrical storm? Smart, Mason," Sin said dryly.

"What? I'm bored."

"We've been in the van for all of ten minutes," Kristine pointed out.

"Look, I will do whatever it takes to amuse myself- whoops!" The Pokéball bounced and opened. Everybody groaned.

"Ele?"

"Go back in," Jason commanded.

"Ele!"

"Come on-"

Thunder rolled across the sky. "Eleee!" Waut complained and he fuzzed a little.

"Jason, please put him back right now," Sin said, leaning as far away as he could.

The truck lurched on the uneven ground. Waut lost his footing, stumbled and Sin saw the Pokémon come flying towards him-

The world was so colourful. Flowers as big as Sin's head- and with his hair, that was rather large- lapis lazuli water, the truck behind him a lovely shade of blue. "Li-ithe?"

Cade was with him, and wanting to be picked up like he hadn't been in the longest time. Sinclair obeyed, putting the puppy in his arms. "Cade, I've got a feeling we're not in Kanto anymore."

The truck lurched. "Sin?" asked a voice.

The fairy looked familiar, lots of red hair, though Sin had certainly never seen the dress before. "You killed him!" she said, pointing. "The Wicked Gym Leader of Cerulean!"

Those black shoes looked familiar too. But Sin couldn't place them anymore than he could place the fairy.

"Is he breathing?"

"I just don't think!" said the boy on the pole. "I mean, I would, but I just can't think! I just go straight into battle!"

"Don't you lose a lot?"

The boy puffed out his chest as if it was made of straw. "Of course not. I'm going to be the best, like no one ever was.

"Look, sunshine, if he doesn't wake up then I guess we just leave him here. I mean, we've got to save ourselves too. Besides, I bet he'll just sleep through the storm."

"I'm not totally heartless." The shiny boy is holding something that looks like a mini tree. "I mean, I didn't cut this one down. I kept it. It's not like I don't care."

"But if you don't befriend your Pokémon, don't you get rusty?"

"My Pokémon are my friends. When did I ever say they weren't?" He shakes his head- it creaks when he does so. "You just stereotype people too much. It's not as if I'm made of tin- you know, pretty and shiny to look at but hollow inside? I'm a real person.

"I-"

"What?"

"Nothing. Please wake up, Sin."

"Trainers are supposed to be smart and brave and fearless. I guess I'm just not."

"Brave and fearless are two different things."

"I suppose so. But I work hard. I'm a good Trainer. I think. It's the people that scare me, sort of."

"Come on, let's get him out of here and into the shelter."

"Do you have a stretcher, Officer Jenny?"

"It's in the next truck that's coming."

Sabrina Pond smiled cryptically at them. "A brain, a heart, a home and the nerve. Do you think you're really the only ones with that story?"

Sin could see themselves in the mirror, but it wasn't truly them. It was other people, only so vaguely familiar he wondered if he ever knew them at all. A girl in a blue dress, a boy with a screwdriver tucked behind his ear but stuffing coming out of him like the first scarecrow, another girl with the same shiny glint to her as the heartless boy, and someone else who looked oddly like the heartless boy too, though his expression would have better fitted the scared one. And away from the group, another boy, who looks like he's searching for something. "A friend," Sabrina supplies. "Something that was lost, waiting to be found."

"Why am I here?" Sin asked at last.

"You're ready to go back," Sabrina Pond said and touched his forehead. "You could have all along."

"Sin? Sin!" said Kristine. "He's opening his eyes!"

"Sin!" Hayden said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm, rushing over. Jason looked keen too, while Sam sauntered over casually.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"In the evacuation centre. You've been asleep for hours."

Sin rubbed his eyes. "I had the weirdest dream..." Pink dress. "You were there," he said to Kristine, suddenly realising. "And you were there," he said to Jason. "And you, and you and-"

He frowned, thinking of the end. "Do you remember that guy in Vermilion, what was his name-"

"David?" asked Jason darkly.

"Yeah, he was there and- are those fish?" Sin had never had a better reason for staring at the wall.

"It's a pretty cool hurricane shelter. We're under the sea," Kristine said. "We should go exploring! There's a Pokécraft centre, that's where all the Pokémon are now, oh, we let yours out of the Pokéballs, I hope you don't mind-"

"Are they okay?"

"Fine! Julius and Noah went to the centre, but Cade, well."

Sin suddenly realised that the thing at his feet was not a hot water bottle but a rather warm puppy. "Lithe?" he asked concerned.

"He's been really worried about you," said Hayden.

"Yeah. I mean. So were we," Sam said rather flatly.

Sin held his arms wide and Cade bounded into them.

"And there's a hair salon and everything in here," said Kristine. "Only there's a battling ban. Which I am absolutely fine with!"

"All this just for Three Island?" Sin asked.

"Oh, no, it's for the whole region. And all the floors are paved with yellow tiles. Yellow makes me happy."

"You're such a girl," said Jason.

"And you're such a boy!"

"A stupid boy. Never, ever let Waut out during a thunderstorm again. But." Sin sat up, ready to leave and wanting to see the wonders of the shelter for himself before realising. "Where's my underwear?"

"Haaaaunt," said an invisible Murtle and cackled.

David | Vermilion (the next day)

“I still don’t get how you guys got Max’s pokemon back so easily last night.” David was laid back on the couch, feet propped up on the glass table in front of him and Poliwag lying on his stomach.

“It wasn’t that hard,” Katya said, brushing Clefairy’s hair coif, “the two really got freaked out when they saw something scary behind us.”

Eve was lying against David’s shoulder, half-asleep. “I’m pretty sure it was the rain, though.”

“The rain probably did help,” Art quipped. “I’m unsure how Dave and I escaped the sewers before they flooded.”

“Do you think the storm is why that Magneton attacked us in the first place?” David looked over at Art and raised an eyebrow.

“I suppose it’s logical...albeit not probable. But stranger things have happened to us on our journey so far.”

The doors to the pokemon center opened, then, and a punk-looking girl with spiky purple hair walked in, looking around the Pokecenter for something. Nurse Joy perked up from behind the counter and smiled. “Sarah! I was wondering when you would be back.” She reached under the counter and pulled out six Pokeballs. “Your Pokemon are all rested and ready to go.”

Sarah shook her head. “Thanks, NJ, but I’m looking for a trainer.”

Nurse Joy furrowed her brow. “Well, you’ll find plenty here. Everyone’s exhausted, though. And some are hiding from the storm in the lower levels.”

Sarah the punk girl who was chewing gum bit down on her pierced lip. “Anyone come in talking about fighting a Magneton?”

Everyone exchanged glances. Nurse Joy looked at them wearily. “Well...” She nodded towards David. “You all did speak of the devil.”

Sarah turned, her army boots squeaking on the floor. She blew a bubble and popped it.

She.

Popped.

It.

“You four nixed my Magneton in the sewers,” she said, her face unreadable.

David felt uneasy. “Uh,” he started, putting his feet down, his sneakers squeaking on the floor. “It attacked us...we, uh, didn’t have much choice.” He looked at the others and moved a bit of wet hair from his eyes. “I’m sorry if we caused any trouble.”

Sarah shook her head, reaching into her pockets. “Well, that Magneton happens to be my favorite pokemon.” She dug around for something. “But he started acting weird yesterday after fighting an Elektabuzz, and then disappeared last night.” She pulled out a handful of shiny things from her pockets. “And you all made him flee the sewers before they flooded. If you wouldn’t have done whatever you did, he would’ve been swimming with the Finneon by now.” She held out her hands. “Five badges for five pretty good trainers. No one else your age has taken out Magneton yet.”

They all reached out and took the badges, eyeing them carefully. David looked back up to her, trying not to stare. She was beautiful in her own weird, quirky way. “T-thanks,” he said, looking at the Thunder Badge. That was three under his belt.

“Now,” she said, eyeing the door, “I have to get back to work. The city’s about to get hammered with the biggest storm it’s seen in decades.” She waited, then looked back at the group. “Now, since I just gave you all badges, maybe you’d be interested in helping out?” She smirked. “Just a hint. Come find me at the Levy if you’re interested.”

Kristine | Hurricane Shelter

"Bulba! Bulbasaur!"

"Berry, what do you have there?!" Kristine asked, crouching next to her bulbasaur at the pokecraft table. All the pokemon were gathered around the short table which was covered with craft materials: crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue, scissors, popsicle sticks, and lots more. It was quite a disaster area, but everyone was doing their own thing.

Berry had created a rather nicely-built orphanage out of popsicle sticks. Actually, Kristine recognized it as their own -- the one Berry had lived in for years. He was basically an employee himself, considering how much he helped around the place. Kristine didn't expect a bulbasaur to show much talent in the art of popsicle sticks, but Berry certainly proved her wrong, and she wanted more than anything to find a way to take the structure with them.

"That's so beautiful!" Kristine squealed, hugging her proud bulbasaur tightly. "You're so talented! This is gorgeous. Mom would love to see this!"

"Bulba!" He beamed.

Kristine looked around at the other pokemon. The boys didn't really get involved as much. Hayden and Sin did approach the table and communicate with their pokemon, but Jason and Sam pretended they didn't know them and meandered off elsewhere. Knowing those two, Kristine suspected they were going to meet plenty of new friends. Well, scratch that. Jason would gain more pets.

Lumichu was sitting in the middle of the table, forming a sort of clay figure of... something. Kristine decided he just wasn't finished yet and encourage the pikachu further.

Peach, however, seemed to have the most difficulty. He wanted to make a popsicle structure just like Berry, seeing as the pidgey would cast jealous looks his way; however, the pidgey could only use his beak and feet to even come close to doing anything like that, and thus, he was constantly frustrated. All around his area were broken popsicle sticks and spilled over materials that were unfortunately placed near him. Kristine smiled. "Oh, Peach," she said, hugging her pidgey. "Here, why don't you paint me a picture instead? It'll mean a lot to me if you do."

The pidgey blinked at the blank sheet of paper she scooched her way, then the assorted colors of paint. His eyes were wide as he stared at it, wondering what in the world he would do with that. Apparently, patience wore thin, and Gumbo grabbed the entire cup of purple paint -- which got Peach defensive. "PIDGEY," he screeched, jumping up and snatching the purple right from the krabby's claws. The pidgey settled back by his paper, set the paint down, then picked up a paintbrush nearby with his beak. He dipped it in the purple, then dragged the color across his paper, determined to get this one right.

"Muuuk."

Kristine, admittedly, forgot about her muk and forced herself to look at what he could possibly be doing at a craft table. The poor pokemon was by himself at the end though. Noah and Julius were the only ones sitting next to the sludge pokemon, but they both had their backs turned to him. Nonetheless, Melon was happily doodling with his crayons.

"They all seem rather content," Sin observed finally. He was watching his squirtle shoot some clean water into a cup for the watercolors.

"What do you say we look around the place then?" Kristine asked. "I would really love to check out that hair salon! I could really use a spa treatment, actually."

"Oh, I highly doubt a hurricane shelter hair stylist is anything like Jace back in Celadon," Sinclair said very quickly. "That man can do amazing things, I swear. And -- oh -- how disgusted he would be to find -- never mind," he added quickly, directing his gaze from Kristine's frizzy hair.

"MUK!"

"Psy?"

Julius turned around after the muk's prodding on his backside, and Melon pointed in front of him at the scissors. The psyduck tilted his head, his strainer hat going askew. Noah didn't have the patience for a confused psyduck, and so he took the scissors and scooted it toward the muk. "Squir!"

"Muk!" He gave Noah the biggest smile ever, his goopy hand firmly grasping the tool.

Sinclair seemed very disgusted by this pokemon, most likely by the fact that he dared touch innocent and people-using tools with his own sludge. Kristine could only giggle, pleased that her mukmelon was such a sweetheart.

"Alright," Sinclair announced, standing up. "I guess it's alright to leave them here if they're happy."

Kristine bounded to her feet. "Yay! Let's go! Hayden, you coming?"

"Uh, yeah..." The two of them turned and looked down at Hayden, who was watching Ophelia build her popsicle structure -- or destroy it. She didn't seem to have a good grasp of building like Berry did. She cast jealous looks his way as well, and apparently, she was fed up with her work. THONK! THONK! THONK!

Kaze could only watch her with wide eyes.

" 'Felia, stop," Hayden pleaded quietly, grabbing her hand holding the bone. "Try something... else."

When Ophelia was finally happy with her clay pounding building, the three of them snuck away to explore the hurricane shelter. Though it was pretty obvious that Kristine was nudging them over to the Wash and Brush Down Co. The people there were all dressed in green, wearing odd little accessories and trinkets. Everyone was smiling and eager to get all these customers, including Kristine, Sinclair, and Hayden.

Hayden flushed a bright red when two ladies grabbed him by the arm and led him to his chair. Kristine happily confided in their gestures and set her bag (in which continued to sit a hot egg) by her feet, and Sinclair handled it as calmly and unimpressed as ever. They were all immediately leaned back so that their hair was now directed into sinks.

"I prefer my hair to be blow-dried only, and please refrain from using any fruit fragrances," Sinclair said as the woman started washing his hair. "And please, please, please do not use gel. There is only one man I trust to gel my hair if I ever use it, so don't bother."

"Hahaha!" Kristine giggled.

"That's how we laugh the day away in the merry old land of spas!" sang the workers around them.

Kristine broke the following silence with another laugh, the woman continuing to massage her scalp with the shampoo. It smelled of lavender -- a scent she was extremely excited for. "You certainly have a style all your own!" she said to Sin.

"Would you like to color your hair or add highlights?" the woman two seats down asked who Kristine assumed was Hayden.

"Um... no." Yup, it was.

"Ah, yes, don't you dare color my hair," Sinclair firmly stated. "However, Kristine, I think you would make a fabulous blonde if you wanted my opinion."

"Hahaha!" Kristine giggled and shook her head.

"That's how we laugh the day away in the merry old land of spas!" sang the employers.

Kristine laughed again. "No, I don't think I could bear changing my hair color. Really, Mom would be so shocked to see me. Besides, you don't see many redheads nowadays!"

"And your father would approve?" Sinclair urged. He was sat up in his chair and turned to face a mirror. Kristine did the exact same thing, and Hayden was already up.

Kristine didn't really have a response to that question, and she allowed herself to get distracted by the two new women who crouched next to her to visit her nails, her hair still being tugged and worked with by the first. It didn't really occur to her she was being all dolled up for Hurricane Nate, but it was still fun, and who better to do it with than Sin?

"You've never been to a spa before, have you?" Sinclair asked, noticing her watching in awe.

Kristine shook her head, smiling. "I haven't, actually. Dad doesn't make that much money, and if he does, we can't use it until he comes home. So we live on Mom's paycheck. Spa treatments are out of the question, really."

"Haaaunterrr."

The woman doing Sin's hair screamed. Kristine turned her head and saw Murtle appear in the mirror across from Sin, who didn't seem phased anymore by Murtle's games. In fact, he was more annoyed now. "Hayden, if I get pranked by your Haunter one more time, I assure you that I will set Julius and his threatening spatula of disaster upon him."

"Hahaha!" Kristine laughed and sang along with, "That's how we laugh the day away in the merry old land of spas!"

The spa treatment went on for a while longer. Hayden was done early, of course, and rushed out of there as soon as he could, just about regretting ever traveling with Sin and Kristine. However, the two of them stayed as long as they wanted. Kristine came out of there with two braids tied with bows and a marvelous pedicure. She felt like a Barbie doll, completely glowing with pretty.

"Not bad," Sinclair said, inspecting his hair in the window outside the spa. "Not impressed, but it's doable. And certainly needed, considering the state it was in before."

Kristine looked at her reflection as well, extremely pleased with how pretty she looked. "I never realized how cute I looked in braids! I should really do them more often!"

"Hey, sunshine!" Kristine spun on her heel, but Sam grabbed a braid in mid-swing and yanked it playfully. "My, aren't you looking fine today."

Kristine giggled, feeling her cheeks turn a bright pink. Then it struck her. "Oh, I forgot my bag!"

"You should go--"

"Here, miss! I believe this is yours!" Kristine's hair stylist returned, holding out her bag with a huge smile.

"Oh, thank you so much!" Kristine said, taking her burning hot bag in her arms. She immediately held it out, impressed by the amount of heat radiating from the egg inside.

"Let's see it then," Sinclair said, nodding to the egg.

Kristine could tell he was still partial to the egg, but she didn't think much of that. She was concerned too, and so she opened her back and pulled out the egg in her hands -- immediately regretting it. Her hands fumbled, but Sinclair caught it as soon as he could, holding the egg in his hands. He pulled down the sleeves of his jacket so as to protect his skin, but judging by his tight face, it didn't do that much good.

The egg wriggled.

"OH MY GOODNESS." Kristine squealed, jumping up and down. "Sin, put it down somewhere! Oh, my goodness! It's hatching! Eek!"

"Calm down, sunshine."

"Hayden's sitting on a bench over there," Jason helped mindlessly, watching that egg's every move.

They all gathered around it, Hayden immediately standing, a bit frightened by the oncoming group. Sinclair and Kristine both sat on the bench, the egg set between them. It was glowing very brightly now. Jason, Sam, and Hayden were watching as well, everyone quiet.

It glowed brighter.

And brighter.

And brighter.

Until finally, the glow faded away.

And there on the bench.

Between Sinclair and Kristine.

Sat their newest pokemon.

"Eeeeveeee!"

Jason | Hurricane Shizzelter

Jason whipped it out before anyone could say anything.

His pokedex beeped and flashed as it--BEEP--took a picture of the baby Eevees.

“I’m pretty sure that you guys are the parents of the first twin pokemon in, like, ever.”

Sinclair and Kristine weren’t paying him attention--they had new pokemon. Like, real pokemon. And there were two!

Jason flipped through his ‘dex and propped up against Sam’s shoulder, humming the POKEMANZ theme under his breath. “Says here that Eevee can evolve into, like, seven million species.”

“Just seven,” Hayden corrected, not daring to look him in the eye. Jason shrugged.

“I dun see the difference.”

“D’awww!” One of the eevee had crawled up into Sin’s lap and was pawing at his jacket, burrowing its nose into his chest.

“Eevee Eev!”

“I think it likes you, Sunshine.” Kristine giggled as her Eevee ran around the bench, chasing its tail until it bumped into Kristine’s leg. Then it just looked up at her with huge, adoring eyes.

“Aaaand that’s how you make a girl fall in love, bro.” Jason smirked. “Take notes.”

While Jason and Sam practiced their love-me eyes, Sinclair and Kristine snugged up to their new partners, Kristine going so far as to kiss it on the nose.

“You know,” Sinclair said, “this settles the really big, really heated egg debate once and for all.”

“Unless one of you wants two Eevee,” Hayden added.

“No,” the pair said in unison, smiling at their adoring new babies.

“Oh,” Hayden said, shuffling his feet. “Okay.” Awkwardly, but not as awkward as Hayden expected since no one really saw him leave, he got up and walked off, heading towards the Pokecraft store.

Jason and Sam plopped down on the bench in Hayden’s place and sighed. Jason looked at Sam and then past him, watching a blue-haired girl walking down the golden tile path with a little pink pokemon in her arms. Jason, of course, took out his Pokedex before Sam stopped him with a “Shhhh, watch and learn.”

Sam got up from the bench and ran a hand through his hair, poking out his chest and walking towards the girl with some weird kind of Kangaskhan swagger. He stopped when the girl approached and coughed, giving her the smoulder.

“Can I help you?” she asked him, the little pink pokemon in her arms looking very displeased with him.

Sam just grinned, rolling his head to the side. “Hey there, little lady. I couldn’t help but to notice that you seem a little lost, and I, as a member of the--uh--Male Escort Foundation--yeah--figured I could help you find your way.”

The girl took a step back, giving him a once-over with a did he really just say that glare. “First off, I’m not lost. I’m helping other people find their way to the mainland...people like you, in fact.” She simmered over this fact for a moment before sighing. “And second, if you knew what a male escort was, you wouldn’t be throwing that mess around like a football on a rugby field.” She narrowed her eyes. “The name is Laura Sherwood, and you’ve picked the wrong Little Lady to patronize.”

The pink pokemon in her arms crossed its own stubby arms and pouted. “Smooch!”

“So unless you would like to arrive in Kanto with three black eyes and a golden tooth, I suggest you get t’steppin’.”

Sam froze, moving his eyes from her face back to Jason’s down the path, who was laughing his butt off. With a slow exhale, he shrugged. “I guess you’re right,” he said smoothly, “I’m just a hopeless romantic lost on the waves of loneliness...”

Coincidentally, or maybe ironically, a string orchestra began playing down the path, giving Sam perfect background music.

“I’m a lonely heart, lost without a--a soft blue-haired guide to help me through the storm.” He winked.

She cringed.

“I just threatened you with more black eyes than your face can handle, and you’re still trying?”

“...pretty much,” he confessed.

Blue-haired Laura looked down to Smoochum, who waggled her eyebrows. She sighed. “Call me if you’re ever in Fuchsia City. It’s where I work.” She scribbled something on a tiny piece of paper and shoved it into his hand. “Just remember--I don’t play games. I win them.” She winked and, without another word, walked on.

Sam watched her leave, turning once she was out of sight back to Jason, whose jaw was on the floor.

As Sam sat back down beside him, he tapped him on the chin, smirking. “Close your mouth, dude. It’s not polite to STARE AT THE MASTER WHILE HE WORKS! HA!”

“You know,” Kristine said, petting Eevee behind the ear, “you two really are hopele--”



The four immediately swung their heads around, looking at one another. “Our Pokemon--”

Art
Vermilion City

"That can't be right."
"Sup?" David asked, leaning over towards the vaguely irritated-looking Art. Art held out his Pokedex.
"I got a scan of that thing that scared off the Rocket goons yesterday," he explained as David squinted at the screen, "but the Pokedex insists it was this."

Mew
Type: ?
Species: ?
A Pokémon of South America that was thought to have been extinct. So rare that it is still said to be a mirage by many experts.

"So, you wish you'd been able to get a closer look so you could fill in some of the gaps in this info?" David asked, tossing the 'Dex back.
Art caught it gingerly. "Hardly. I'm just frustrated: that device is clearly defective. Do you realise there hasn't been a sighting of Mew in more than one hundred and fifty years?"
"Until last night, I guess."
"No no no. See, Mew is a myth. It's got to be, otherwise someone would have documented evidence of its continued existence. If it ever existed at all. Perhaps it was once real, and died out, or perhaps it's just the product of overactive imaginations. But I can tell you with ninety-eight point... three seven percent certainty that that was not a Mew we saw last night."

David opened his mouth, possibly to argue, but was interrupted by a loud beeping coming from the Pokedex. Art sighed.
"What is it now, you infernal - Sacred Ash!" he exclaimed. David jumped up from his chair, spilling warm cocoa all over himself.
"Dude, what the heck!?" he blustered.
"Sorry," Art said shortly, pulling his jacket on. "Where are the girls? And Max?" he added, having forgotten for the umpteenth time that the boy had joined them.
"Getting breakfast." David muttered, wringing out his shirt. "You know I got this specially at the Viridian Festival..."
He cut his complaint short when he noticed that Art had disappeared.


Kanto Route 11

Art shivered and tightened his scarf as he trod across the tall grass, glancing down at the Pokedex in his hand every few steps. Wind, rain and the odd speck of hail pelted against his bandanna and jacket but he ignored them, intent on locating -

There it was.
It turned and stared at him with its blue set of compound eyes, its antennae twitching furtively. Art didn't say anything, and for a while the two just looked at one another.

Finally, Art took a Poke Ball from his belt and threw it to the ground. It burst open, belching forth Cass, whose immediate reaction to the weather was to begin shivering uncontrollably.
"I know it's not ideal conditions, Cass," Art called over the howling wind, "but we should be able to catch Venonat with moderate efficiency. Then we'll go back to the Pokemon Centre and warm up. Now let's start things off with Stun Spore!"

Art apparently wasn't thinking clearly: no sooner had the orange haze erupted from Cass's back than it was whipped away by the gale. Next second it was coming for Art himself: he barely had time to pull his scarf up. He wasn't so lucky as he pulled his goggles down - I hope Stun Spore doesn't have a lasting effect on the eyes.

He didn't have much time to think about it as the storm quickly got worse. Cass was almost lifted off the ground: Art barely managed to recall Cass to her Ball. He rushed forward towards the Venonat, which had been picked up by the wind, and seized it in his arms. Bits of Stun Spore were still whizzing about, causing the Venonat to twitch and bite his arm, which he ignored as best he could - his only thought now was finding a safe place for them to shelter - his vision was hazy now, probably a result of the Stun Spore - he was surely hallucinating now as he was sure someone was pulling him along -

"You're insane. You know that, right?"
Art opened his eyes. "David?"
"Yeah, it's me. We've found this thing twice already and you choose now of all times to actually catch it."
Art could tell from his tone that David wasn't nearly as irate as he was trying to make out - in fact, he almost sounded amused. Art looked over to see the Venonat huddled up against his backpack, also noticing their location: a clearing surrounded by very thickly-woven branches and shrubs, and covered by a canopy of leaves. The wind was much softer here than outside, and even the rain wasn't as torrential as it seemed to be from the sound coming from outside.

"Funny story," Art groaned as he sat up. "You'll laugh, you really will. I didn't capture it."
David laughed. "You're right, that is kinda funny."
"Mm-hmm," Art mumbled, turning to Venonat. "You're probably going to run off again, and quite frankly, I don't blame you."
The Venonat hissed and pushed Art's backpack towards him. Art looked at it, nonplussed.
"What do you think that means?"
"I think it means," David said, "that you have a battle to finish."
Art smiled and nodded to the Venonat. "You're on."

He climbed to his feet with one Poke Ball in his hand - he held it out in front of him, releasing Lex's floating form. Venonat's eyes flashed for a second - Art wasn't sure what had happened until he commanded Lex to use Thunderbolt. The bug easily avoided the beams of electricity. Foresight. Duh, Art.
This time, the Venonat's antennae glowed blue for a second, and Lex followed suit - its Thunderbolt had been Disabled. Get your head in gear, Art!
He shook his head vigorously and called out "Thunder Wave, Lex - quickly, before it can do anything else!" Lex spat out a blue spark of lightning, which seemed to crawl all over the Venonat for a split second.
"Now give it a Double Tackle!" Art commanded. Lex slammed into Venonat from the front, knocking it backwards, then reversed direction to hit it from behind. Venonat was now kneeling (if you considered it to have knees) and Art knew it was time.

"I've been saving this one for you," he whispered as he took a blue Poke Ball out of his pocket - it had a black mesh-like design on it. He reached back and heaved it at his quarry, which disappeared in a red burst of light.
Art watched the ball shake back and forth - as the red light on the front finally dimmed, he sank to his knees.
"Gotcha!" David cheered. "Venonat was caught!"
It was finally over. The rare Pokemon he'd met on the first day of his journey was his at last...

He promptly passed out again.

Dodge has joined the party!

1119

Sinclair Audley- the Hurricane Shelter

Sin had never had a female Pokémon before.

He was clinging to his newborn, warm baby Eevee for dear life as they were pushed from all sides by the crowd all heading to the Vermilion Quarter of the shelter. "What's going on?" he shouted over the din to a terrified looking Hayden. Hayden only shrugged.

"Sir! Excuse me, sir!" Sin shouted, moving towards a burly man in uniform. "What's happening?"

"Trouble, boy, move along."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?"

"A crack in the wall."

"A crack? In your super safe hurricane shelter?"

"It's sabotage, kids, move along, please, we need to get you into safety."

The group turned back into the crush of people moving through the passageway.

Team Rocket Mandy- Hurricane Shelter- Sevii Islands Quarter

Mandy really really hated fish.

It was all Nate's fault, really. If he hadn't come blustering in then there was no way you would find her in a creepy place like this. Andy was pointing at colours like a little child.

"Can you stop that?" she snapped.

"They're just fish, Mandy, why should you be scared?"

"Because, because their eyes..."

"You're not scared of water Pokémon though."

That wasn't strictly true. She tolerated water Pokémon. She was never planning on owning any. "Let's just go somewhere with normal walls made of bricks. Quickly."

"No- wait." Andy was moving towards the wall. Like, actually towards it. "Look, Mandy."

"I don't care about fish-"

"It's not a fish."

She squinted and saw what Andy was looking at. A Tentacruel.

Tentacruel
Species: Jellyfish Pokémon
Type: Water Pokémon
An evolved form of the Tentacool. Its numerous tentacles serve as a powerful weapon. It is known as the "Gangster of the Sea."

The biggest Tentacruel she had ever seen in her life. Its tentacles were spread out all over the glass, as if the lights inside the shelter were attracting it.

"We should catch it," Andy said whipping out a Pokéball. "The biggest gangster in the sea. Like the boss. We'll never get another chance."

"Andy- are you stupid-"

He clearly was. He through the Pokéball. The Tentacruel thrashed as it saw it approaching. It hit the glass.

Water and, much to Mandy's horror, fish began coming in through the crack.

Sinclair Audley- Hurricane Shelter

There were too many people, and they were all taller than Sin, taller than Sam. Adults screaming like little girls (or like Kristine when she saw a bug.) Nobody was paying attention to the four ten year olds.

"Hey, kids!" shouted another security guard. "You're going the wrong way!"

Sinclair Audley rarely ever defied direct orders before he met this lot. But now he dropped one hand to grab Hayden's and linked the arm carrying his Eevee. Water began to seep into his boots, but he didn't care. All he cared about was Cade. Perhaps Julius and Noah could hold their own in the flood- and Peach and Gumbo- but what about Kaze and Cade? He gritted his teeth and followed the track Sam's feet were making in the water.

"What if we don't get there in time?" Kristine shouted over the noise of panic. Sin didn't even let the thought enter his head and just kept trudging forwards.

And then, there they were. The lollipop sticks had clearly come in useful. Berry was gritting his teeth with the effort of using his vines to hold the whole thing together. Julius was wading in the water that was now waist height for him shouting, "DUCK!" and waving the spatula. Cade and Kaze looked horrified. Without thinking, Sin dropped his connection to the other two and pulled out a Pokéball to put his puppy in, followed by Noah and Julius. The others all did the same.

"Come on!" shouted Jason, clearly aware that the water was now up to his knees. "We've got to get out of here."

But now there was water as well as people. Once again, Sin instinctively reached for Hayden and Kristine and followed Sam- he was the biggest of them and it seemed like a good idea to follow in the waves he made as he strided through the water. Kristine just kept saying 'Oh god' quietly over and over while Hayden was as white as a sheet.

Then somehow, after what felt like a century, the water was gone. There wasn't as much noise. The people were filling out different benches and niches against walls. Sin breathed in and out deeply, checking the Eevee now tucked into his coat.

"You've had an interesting first day, huh, girlie?" he asked, drying her head. "Eevee!" she chirped nonetheless and he hugged her tight. "I'll need to get you a name..."

"Me too," said Kristine beside him. "The whole way I was just thinking of names and trying not to think of, you know, dying."

"Did you come up with any?"

"Lucy," she said with a shrug. "I like it. Plus I wanted her to have a name as soon as possible just in case... in case we didn't make it through."

"Well, we did," Sin said, turning to involve the rest of the group, a bedraggled and severely disgruntled Sam, a still-petrified Hayden and a-

"Guys, where's Jason?"

"But he was just- oh my lord, where could he be?" Kristine said, beginning to panic again. "He was with us, I saw him, he kept shaking his feet because his shoes were full of water-"

"I'm sure he's here somewhere," said Hayden quietly. "There's just a lot of people. We'll find him."

"Can't we just let him find us?" Sam said rather lazily, leaning against a spare patch of wall- here they were grey and utilitarian, not glass like the other quarter. Kristine slapped him hard on the arm. "Ouch, sunshine. Do you have a thing for Mason?"

Blushing was not a good look on Kristine. "Let's just find him, shall we? Come on, we'll go this way."

Lucy, Sin thought, watching Kristine's Eevee as she sniffed at her owner's wet hair. He looked back at his own and her wide brown eyes.

"Meredith?" Her eyes narrowed. "Gertrude?" Narrowed even further. "Enid? Ethel? Belinda?" With each successive name suggestion the eyes got smaller and smaller until they were just dark brown lines.

"... Lea?"

The eyes grew to full size once more, and Sin planted a kiss on her head. "Lea it is!"

"Eeeeee!"

"What's up?" Kristine asked.

"Lucy, meet Lea," Sin said formally, holding out one Eevee to the other. They touched noses and said "Eevee!" in unison. Sin couldn't help grinning.

"They are so adorable, wait until Jason sees them, they will melt his heart-"

"... Kristine?"

Sin turned to look at the source of the voice. A boy with black hair who looked familiar was coming towards them.

"Oh my goodness, David!" Kristine ran and threw her arms around him, leaving Sin holding both Eevees rather awkwardly. The boy from Viridian. But they had only met so briefly. "What are you doing here?" Kristine asked high-pitchedly.

"Didn't you hear? There's a hurricane," said David. "But you guys are all okay-"

"No, we've lost one of our friends- I'm sure you remember Jason."

"Yeah, I remember him," David said. "He's still with you guys?" He sounded surprised.

"No, we don't know where he is- oh, this is Hayden, by the way-"

"Guys, I thought we were splitting up to find Mason and now you're all here gossiping and- Max?"

Sam and his twin brother, like the Eevees, had come face to face.

David | Celadon City | 1.5 Weeks Later

It was near sundown the next Friday when David stood on the balcony of Celadon’s finest hotel, the heavy, wet breeze from the storm off the horizon blowing through his hair. So much had changed in such a short time, and it nearly seemed like a dream. There was a new glower in those blue eyes of his--something that said this is gonna happen that he didn’t have before. Maybe it was the pride of his third badge. Maybe it was the fact that Charmander had evolved. Or maybe it was just the thought of being unrivaled for the first time since his journey began.

Jason. The others had spent half the day looking for him in the hurricane shelter, and they finally decided to leave him to his own game...wherever he was. Hopefully, David thought, that wouldn’t leave him dead.

His fingers gripped the railing in front of him and he smiled, looking out over Celadon. It was a bustling city of skyscrapers and shopping malls, everything crammed in together like the farmland and trees had been vacuumed out by an industrial housewife. It made David miss home back in Pallet. It made him miss his mom.

Thoughts of home led him to thoughts of Nick, his missing companion. He really was failing as a big brother guardian figure, and it still weighed on his shoulders that he couldn’t find Nick in Vermilion. But maybe Galveston had found him and taken care of him. Or maybe he had flooded in the sewers to the north...to Orre or some strange place he’d never seen before.

But it was decided that it would be best to split up in search of Nick. It wasn’t David’s idea, though...and that bugged him. Eve had insisted that she and Katya split off and head back north to find Nick. The Hayden kid who’d met Kristine and Sin after they left Viridian had gone with them, and David could only hope that they were doing well. Checking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching from inside, he took out his PokeGear and typed up a message to Eve. They’d been in contact ever since communications had gone back up after the storm left, and, giving it some thought, David could almost imagine that Eve had a thing for him.

“Texting the forbidden fruit, I see...” Sam walked out from the hotel room, towel around his neck and sunglasses on, a huge, I know what you’re thinking grin on his face. “Dude, I told you this morning: make the lady come to you.”

David shut his PokeGear and stowed it, flashing Sam a sly smirk. “Me? Talking to a girl? No, sir.”

Sam shrugged and leaned against the rails, looking out over Celadon. “I’m just sayin’, bro...patience is a Pichu.”

“Virtue.”

“Raichu?”

“No.” He shook his head, turning to look inside. Sin and Kristine were curled up on the couch watching Alakazam of Oz for the third time, and he was braiding Kristine’s hair. “What’s up with those two?” he nodded at the pair on the couch, “they’re always so buddy-buddy, almost like they’re sisters.”

“You know, I would correct your genders, but I don’t see the point, honestly.”

“Anyway, I have big news.” David turned back towards the city, squinting and pointing to the southwest, to a building with an enormous tree sprouting from the top. “See that freakin’ huge tree over there?”

“Is this coming back to more talk about forbidden fruit?”

“No--listen. That is the Celadon gym.”

“Huh,” Sam deadpanned. “I wonder who does their lawncare.”

“Apparently, that tree is called The Tree of Life, and it’s kind of a big deal.”

“Big Tree, Big Deal. Makes sense.” Sam’s gaze wandered down to the pool below where girls were splashing each other.

“So I’m thinking the leader will use grass types. Maybe flying.”

Art opened the sliding glass door to the balcony, stretching his arms behind his head and yawning. His hair was flung left and right and up and down madly, as if he’d just been electrocuted. “Magnemite make the best alarm clocks,” he said as he took his place beside David. “Also, that tree you’re talking about--they call it the Tree of Life because, at the very top of the tree, there are branches that produce evolutionary stones for grass-type Pokemon. Also, it’s apparently the oldest tree in Kanto. That may have something to do with it, but the evidence is inconclusive.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Bulbapedia,” Art replied, holding out his PokeGear with a wiki-style page pulled up. “For all your PokeWorld needs.”

“Hey Gizmo,” Sam said, grabbing his shoulder, “you should get me that girl’s number down there--the one with blue hair. No, not that one. Her. Yeah, her.”

Art shrugged his hand away, aiming the handheld down to the girl below. The little device beeped triumphantly. “968.273.3869,” he said, “which conveniently spells out You Are Dumb in T9 language.”

It was then that David’s PokeGear pipped up with a reply from Eve.

“They’re in a place called Mimeton, apparently.”

“That city’s famous for something,” Art said, narrowing his eyes.

“Well, yeah,” Sam said, laughing, “I’m sure you’ve heard of the royal family of Mr. Mime that live in Northern Kanto.”

“...no?”

“Oh,” Sam said. “There used to be a TV show about it.”

“I’ve seen that show,” Art replied, “Mr. Mime’s Life of Crime.”

“No, it was another one that came on after Mr. Mime’s Life of Crime was cancelled.”

“Oh,” Art said, tapping his palm against his forehead. “Mr. Mime’s Neighborhood.”

“No, before that.”

“Digimon?”

Sam walked away.

*bursts in through the wall* Look who's here!

Laura Sherwood - Celadon City



“Smooooch!”

Laura struggled to hold the baby Smoochum in her arms as she stood waist-deep in the hotel pool, her blue hair water-falling over her shoulders. It was more upscale of a hotel than she was accustomed to, having slept on couches in PokeCenters most of her journey. Luckily it wasn’t so upscale a place that she couldn’t let her pokémon out for a swim.

Aside from the baby Smoochum in her arms, two Eevees tumbled around on the pool deck nearby as they wrestled each other and nipped at each other’s tails. They were brothers, hatched from different eggs of the same mother back home on the ranch.

“Smooch,” the Smoochum in Laura’s arms pouted, crossing her arms in front of her.

“Sweetie, you gotta stay put,” she grumbled, tightening her grip around the pokémon that was again squirming in her arms. “You can’t swim, I don’t know why you think you can but you can’t.”

A wave of water splashed over her as the two eevee brothers tumbled over the edge of the pool into the bright blue water. A girl nearby shrieked and yelled at Laura for being so “out of control” with her pokémon. Laura shot her a dirty look and set Sweetie on the edge of the pool as she grabbed Toby and Eli in either arm and pulled them close. They were sopping wet, but the sweetest boys to snuggle.

She set them up on the edge of the pool beside Sweetie and they shook their fur, knocking the water off of them and right into Laura’s face. “Gee, thanks,” she said, unable to keep herself from laughing. She braced her hands on the edge of the pool, ready to pull herself out, when a pair of feet stepped right in front of her.

“Hello there, Little Lady,” an all-too familiar voice said.

Laura looked up only to find that obnoxious kid – Sam, was that his name? – from the Hurricane Shelter standing over her, arms crossed in front of him, and supposedly smolder-ous smirk on his lips. He wore a pair of white swim trunks that only accentuated how pasty white his skinny little chest was.

“Oh, you again,” she said. She moved to the side of him and pulled herself onto the pool deck, gathering Sweetie into her arms again. She walked away, toward where her towel lay on a lounge chair. She had hoped Sam would leave her alone, but he followed. Well, at least he’s persistent, she thought to herself. If not completely obnoxious and full of himself.

He held up the folded piece of paper Laura had given him nearly a week ago. “You gave me your number,” he said. “Figured you wanted to see me again, so when I saw you down here—”

Laura set Sweetie down on the lounge chair. “Didn’t you even read that?” she asked, spinning around and planting her hands on her hips. She raised an eyebrow and snatched the paper away from him, opening it and shoving it back into his face.

She watched his expression change as he read what she knew was written there. Sherwood & Lynn: Pokémon Breeders. Fuschia City.

“Breeders?” Sam asked, taking the paper from her hand and studying it further.

“Yeah, haven’t you heard of Pokémon Breeders?” she asked, a slight air of know-it-all creeping into her voice. “It’s only one of the most prominent up-and-coming field in the world of pokémon.”

“Of course I’ve heard of Breeders,” Sam scoffed, shoving the paper into the pocket of his swim trunks. “The point is, you want me to come see you in Fuschia City. And I’m here to tell you, why wait?” He grinned at her, doing whatever he thought was attractive to try to win her over.

Laura rolled her eyes and wrapped her towel around her, taking Sweetie in her arms again calling Toby and Eli to her side. “I’ll be seeing you,” she said, glancing back at Sam and giving him a semi-sweet smile. “Like I said before, look us up next time you’re in Fuschia City.”

Sinclair Audley

Sin's Pokégear lying on the table lit up. He tied off the Dutch Lace Braid on Kristine's head and picked it up, scanning the message.

"Good news!" he said, and Kristine, Art and David all looked around. "My butler's in town after all, he can open up the penthouse for us."

Since they had arrived in Celadon without giving Sin time to prepare, the penthouse that his family usually occupied at the top of the Celadon Plaza was firmly shut. The doorman had recognised him though, and given him a suite free of charge. Though the others didn't seem nonplussed about moving from the luxury suite to the penthouse, Sin couldn't help but think of all his stuff in the apartment... and Crebbins' food.

"I can't believe he has a butler," David muttered to Kristine yet still within Sin's earshot. "Is he stinking rich?"

"Oh yes," Kristine said. "Horribly so."

Sin packed up all his stuff and picked Lea up. "How are you?" he asked her. They had awarded Lea a blue ribbon and Lucy a pink ribbon so that they would be able to tell them apart.

"Eev," she said sleepily and decided to curl up in the crook of his arm, which proved difficult when he attempted to pick up his rucksack, until Cade picked it up in his teeth.

"Thanks, boy," he said.

"That's one smart Growlithe," Art said. "Why hasn't he evolved yet?"

Sin looked alarmed. "Because... because..." He shrugged. "Cade will evolve when he's ready."

"I reckon he's ready."

Sin stood in front of Cade protectively. It was true that Cade would only evolve with the Fire Stone... but he hadn't given any inclination to wanting to evolve- had he? He was a smart Pokémon, but Sin was happy with him as he was, as long as Cade himself was happy too.

"Come on," he says to Kristine, "Crebbins has the apartment open."

They went out into the lavishly decorated landing and Sin pressed the button for the lift. "Wait-" he said, looking around- "Sam still isn't here."

"I'm sure he'll work it out! Come on!" Kristine had never been to a penthouse before. The excitement might have been getting too much for her.

They went up in the lift that was playing a subdued string quartet cover of Pokémanz. Sin was quivering with anticipation of his sofa, of Crebbins' lasagna, of him telling Sin all about Pokémon. For a butler, Lawrence Crebbins knew an awful lot about Pokémon...

The doors opened.

"Good evening, Sinclair."

Perhaps, were they not themselves, they might have hugged. But instead Sin just grinned and said, "Crebbins. How are you?"

"Tolerable, and yourself?"

"Excellent. These are my friends, Kristine, Art and Dave. Sam should be around in a while, I think he went to stalk-I mean, talk to someone."

"Very good, Master Sinclair. Why don't you come in?"

David gave a low whistle. "You live here?" he asked, clearly stunned by the plasma screen TV, the pure leather couches, the impressionist paintings on the walls, the candelabras.

"Yeah," Sin said with a shrug. "Come on, I'll show you my room."

But as soon as they got into the room, Sin felt wrong. As if he were intruding on a past version of himself. The walls were very clean apart from a poster displaying the legendary Pokémon that his father had sent him and Crebbins had put up perfectly on the wall opposite the bed. There was his computer, state of the art, the pristine keyboard. The window that looked out over Celadon, the gym in the distance. The neat stack of Bulbapedias on his shelf.

There was a time, in Sinclair's life, when everything had been orderly. He loved it like that. But now he suddenly felt the absence of Pokédolls, of old magazines and dog-eared picture books, of CDs without cases scattered around his monitor.

"This looks... comfortable," Art said and Sin was suddenly blushing, ashamed of his own cleanliness. There was nothing embarrassing in the room but that was just it. There were no stupid photographs, no old toys. Whenever Sinclair Audley finished with something, Crebbins disposed of it.

"Yeah," Sin said, moving out of the room. "Come on, I'll find you guys places to sleep."

Naturally the guest bedroom was made up with enough space for the boys and Kristine was offered Sin's parents' room, since they weren't there.

"Sinclair, would you like foie gras this evening?" asked Crebbins.

He considered the others, who weren't exactly connoisseurs of fine food. "Actually, how about... pizza?"

"Pizza, Sinclair?"

"Yeah, you know, that thing with bread and tomatoes and cheese... it's good!" he said defensively as Crebbins wrinkled up his nose.

"Sinclair, I hardly think it's appropriate food for guests- your mother would disapprove." Sin kept his mouth shut, but knew his mother always entertained first, asked questions later. He was simply following her example.

"Just... nothing too rich, please, Crebbins."

"If you say so. Now, about the Pokémon..." he bent down to Cade and sighed. "He's looking a little shabby. Are you quite sure you're grooming him properly?"

Sin felt his colour rising. "I brush him every morning and evening!"

"Well, he's just not making very good progress. As for the others..." He sighed again, looking at Noah and Julius who were using Julius' strainer as a magnifying glass. "I mean, a Psyduck is not an appropriate team member if you wish to be a trainer of... your father's calibre."

Sin bit his lip. "Julius is my Pokémon, I'll do with him what I like."

The tension was practically unbearable, until Art said, "Sin, can you show me how to use your computer?"

Sin did so, then fixed Kristine's unfinished braids. "Where did you learn to do this anyway?" she asked.

"Mum always wanted a daughter," he said with a shrug.

"And your dad?"

"Dad's not around much, you know that. I spend time in the city with Crebbins, time at home with Mum."

"And is your room at home more... homely?" she asked, glancing at the perfectly made bed, the spotless carpet.

"My room is fine," Sin aid with clenched teeth, almost stabbing her with a hairpin. "Where's Sam anywway?"

He got up and went to the window. "Growl," Cade said, padding up behind him.

"It's okay, boy," Sin said, patting the first Pokémon he had ever had, his best friend in the world. "We don't have to listen to any of them."

But some things are easier said than done.

Tango of the Singing Soul, a Picturesque Legend of Mew

The heat of the ballroom may have been swiftly likened to that of an infernal dream; the licks of flame from rosary candles across the floor filled the entire room with more romance than all of poetic tongues across nations, across centuries. Valéncia drew a long breath, possessing the scent of floral liquor in the glass intertwined with her fingers, and she peered across the room for El Sueño.

He was a blacklisted arms dealer from the depths of the South American jungle, and he had promised her something very important earlier that evening.

He had promised her a kiss of silver.

The flares of her dress blew in the breeze that whispered from the agape windows. She turned her head and licked the rim of her glass as the slits of her eyes caught the flash of steel across the room.

“Señorita, si valoras tu vida, vas a venir conmigo.”

The black-haired siren turned to the man behind her shoulder, the man who touched her hip. A low roll of wind fell through her throat. “Por qué usted sigue?”

The man was tall, dark with the shadow of a thousand days of sunlight on his face. “Porque su vida está en peligro.”

The man of the sun took her arm, stole her away into a room behind a curtain, and brought her to a hidden stairwell. Her gaze was that of a white blaze--something fierce and wild, something violent. She slit away from his grip, slicing through the skin of his hand with a small blade in the palm of her own. As she took a step back, she licked the scarlet from the knife. She grinned, the rouge on her lips glistening in the deep candlelight. “La única vida en peligro es su propia.” She turned, bringing the blade in her hand to the tips of her fingers, and swiped her form across the throat of her kidnapper, dropping him as rocks in a dark river at night.

No man could touch La Corazón and live to tell the tale. An international thief, a bandit of nations. More cunning than a tigress, and more dangerous than death’s kiss. She was a goddess all her own.

But there came a sound from beneath the stairwell, a pining sort of sound that belonged in an infant’s mouth. Valéncia knelt by the stairwell and listened to its soft sounds, so calm and hypnotic, they appeared nearly to be in her own mind.

”Descansa ahora, mi corazón,
no teniendo temor de que la
tormenta que se avecina.
Vamos a sobrevivir a esta
prueba como una sola alma,
por lo demás, mi corazón.

She touched her lips, eyes blurring as she followed the sounds into the dark room below, standing alone in the shadows cast by no light. With a step, the hem of her dress snagged beneath her heel, ripping the crimson gown at her knees and bringing her to her face on the ground.

She pushed up, peered into the darkness, reached out her hands, and touched the face of what she could only imagine was an angel. Her wayward singing soul. By some energy, she felt the floor lift away, and she was standing on air, dancing the angel’s tango. The music in her mind sped by, reaching a climax at which she felt her energy suddenly vanish. There was a flash of light through her eyes just before the crack of bones--

--and she fell to the floor, a murderess’ skull crushed against a wall.

__ __ __ __ __

David Birch | The Guest Room

“Yeah, that story’s intense and all, but I really doubt a fluffy pink Pokemon would really kill someone, yeah?”

Art shrugged, hooking up his PokeGear to the laptop to download the rest of the documentaries. “I’ve heard stranger things about non-legendary pokemon, so a pokemon like Mew that is so...unknown...it may happen.”

“Either way, it gives us a good reason that Team Rocket would run from it in Vermilion.”

“No kidding. Seeking out villains? Destroying the corrupt? Sounds like Mew’s a sort of vigilante pokemon.”

“Like Batman.” David got up off the floor, grabbed his bag from one of the beds, and started looking through its contents. “What do you say you and I spend the evening checking out what kind of gym leader I’m up against in Celadon?”

Art logged out and closed the laptop, sitting it on the floor beside him. “I guess it couldn’t hurt. I mean, it’s not like Sin and Kris are up to anything involving us.”

“Exactly. And Sam just vanished, so I think it’s the perfect opportunity to find out a little bit about the competition here.” Dave pulled out a little canister of black face paint. “And we’ll do it ninja style.”

Art took the can of black muck in his hand and sniffed it. “Smells toxic.”

“Just like man make-up should.”

Art shrugged again as David walked across the room, pulling a couple of black shirts from the chest of drawers. “Possibly the coolest thing about this whole Penthouse thing? The fact that Sin has, like, all the clothes you could ever need.” He threw Art a black shirt and a pair of black jeans. “Suit up and meet me in the kitchen.”

Art watched him leave, raising an eyebrow. “Ninjas don’t take snacks with them...”

After David was dressed and had the toxic black goo smeared under his eyes, he looked in the bathroom mirror and checked his teeth. Sparkly and white and definitely not ninja-like. He sighed and made an angry face, hiding his teeth. Better.

“Dave? I’m ready.”

David turned off the lights in the bathroom and grabbed his bag off the floor, opening the door with a nod to Art. “For the remainder of this mission, you’ll be codenamed Dexter.” He handed Art a walkie-talkie and an ear piece. “I found a set of these in a trash can in one of the spare rooms. They still work. Go on, put it in.”

Art made a face as he squirmed the earpiece into his left ear and looked back at David. In response, David clicked the walkie-talkie. “CHECKING.”

The earpiece blared in Art’s head and he toppled to the side.

Dave looked down at him. “Maybe I should turn down the volume a bit.”

Art gave him a thumbs-up.

__ __ __ __ __

Sundown, Some Office Building

Art and Dave slid down the wall to their backsides, catching their breath. The room was full of a steamy mist, courtesy of Charmeleon and Poliwag. It had given them the chance to run through the floor undetected by security. “Okay,” David said, putting a hand on Art’s knee. “Now we split up.”

He looked out the window in front of them at the broad mass of the Tree of Life across the road.

“I grabbed this,” he took a grappling hook out of his bag with a large, red F on the bottom and held it up, “from Sin’s apartment as well. Apparently Crebbins keeps spy gear in a spare bedroom for no reason.” He cocked the firing mechanism and grinned. “So you can either ride this puppy with me, or get Dodge to take you across with a leech seed vine.”

Art took out a Pokeball with a grin. “Any chance to see Dodge in action, I take.”

David nodded. “Alright. So you know the plan by now. I sneak into the leader’s office, which we believe to be on the sixteenth floor, and check out everything for signs of his Pokemon team. Meanwhile, you’ll break into security and wire their system so Lex has control for a while. And when I give you the signal, we get the heck outta there and get back to Sin’s in time for dinner.”

Art looked down through the window and tapped David on the shoulder.

“What?”

He pointed down. “Problem. Sam.”

David shuffled over to the window and looked down to the darkening streets where Sam was ninja-following a blue-haired girl near the gym. “Shoot,” David said, banging his fist against the window. “That’s the girl from the pool earlier. Dude must be stalking her.”

“You have to give him credit,” Art replied, “the guy’s persistent.”

David snarled. “Okay. New plan. We grab Sam first, and then proceed with Operation: Super Ninja Attack Power.”

“Or OSNAP for short,” he interjected.

David nodded. “Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

Kristine | Sin’s Penthouse

Kristine hummed the Pokemanz song to herself as she fiddled with her braid and looked around the room for any indication of “teenage boy.” She had to admit that the bed was extremely... comfortable. It was like floating in the sky.

She really wanted that bed.

But she distracted herself with her song, her hair, and minded her own business as usual. Sin suddenly turned away from the window, but he was uninteresting. He seemed distracted with Cade. So Kristine helped herself to entertainment and pulled out a pokeball, allowing Lumichu a breath of fresh lavender-scented air. The pikachu bounded around her a few times before halting in front of her, propping himself up, and smiling that pika-smile she loved so much. “Pika pi!”

Kristine couldn’t help but squeeze-hug her pokemon before letting him roam around.

“Don’t lose control of your pokemon, please,” Sin muttered from the window, watching the pikachu hurtle across the clean carpet.

Kristine giggled. “He’ll be fine. He’s such a well-behaved pikachu, don’t you think?”

Sin didn’t reply. He didn’t really have to though, seeing as the pikachu managed to escape their line of sight already. Kristine crawled across the bed and looked around on the floor, trying to find her yellow friend.

“...Where’s your pikachu?” Sin asked dully, sighing heavily as Kristine bounded around the bed in the same fashion as Lumichu did only minutes before.

Kristine’s eyes traveled to Sin... and then to the door, which stood further ajar than it did before. Sin seemed to notice where she looked, and both kids dashed out of the room. They looked all around for the pikachu.

“There!” Sin pointed in the direction of a nearby room, and Kristine spotted the pikachu’s tail disappearing behind the door frame. They bolted.

“Pika pi!” Lumichu sounded from somewhere in the room. “Piiiiii!”

“Kristine, your pikachu’s--”

“Okay, okay! I’ll find him and hang on to him,” Kristine said, stifling a laugh. She searched beneath the bed and crawled around the floors.

“Chu?”

Kristine perked up, looking at the closet nearby. Before she made a move, Lumichu hopped out from behind the closet’s door and wrinkled his nose. “Pika?”

“Lumichu, come on! Let’s bring the games outside--Lumichu!” The pikachu had bounded back inside, and Kristine had no choice but to follow him in. She bumped the door open more to let herself through and found Lumichu poking his way through a pile of strange gadgets. Kristine picked up a grappling hook, tilting her head. “Sin?”

“Did you find him yet?”

“Sin, I didn’t know you were into climbing... things.”

Sinclair opened the closet door even more and furrowed his brow. “I don’t climb.” He bent down next to Kristine and picked up a black case. On the front in the lower righthand corner: Faelane Industries.

----

Sam Martin | Gym: B2 Floor

Sam gripped the wall behind him, his chest beating like those tribal drums on top of that fiery mountain near Johto. It was sheer adrenaline now, baby, and he was on the hunt. He pulled closer to the pillar he was holding and peeked his head around, watching that flush of blue hair vanish into a stairwell. He let out a huge draw of breath and huffed along after her, stopping at the head of the stairwell like a spy.

He even made a finger gun.

Naturally, in his head, he could hear the tune from 007 as he crept down the stairs. Also naturally, he felt totally cool when he reached the bottom and saw...well, nothing.

So Sam rolled. He rolled across the floor and hopped back to his feet behind another wall, watching for codename girl in hot bikini. He wondered to himself if the word hot was misplaced. Was it the bikini or the girl that was hot? He’d have to ask Max next time he saw him. He knew all about adjectives.

Girls love adjectives, he’d said.

“Eevee?”

Sam’s ears perked as the girl spoke, hanging on her every word. “Maybe, Eli. It was a bit...” Sam peered around the corner as slyly as he could to get a better look, “...crowded for my tastes today, so we’ll check it out tomorrow. But hey, you and your brother certainly got in some cannonballs. You gave some of those girls a well-deserved bath.”

“Eev!” he chirped back, filled with glee.

“Vaporeon was always an interesting evolution,” she mulled over. The eevee flicked its tail and responded with continued enthusiasm. The girl laughed quietly to herself. “Next time, you should give that one guy a good cannonball.”

“Eevee eev! Eeee!”

Sam reached into his pocket and took out his PokeGear, holding it to his chin. “In the bottom second floor of the gym...feels like a video game right now, like some kind of villain is about to pop out from behind a wall and say--”

“What are you doing here?!”

Sam’s eyes went wide and he dropped his PokeGear on the floor with a gulp. He slowly turned his paling face to the voice and stopped dead in his gooey-melty-hearted tracks.

Blue hair. Fierce eyes. No bikini, but no complaints. The word hot totally belonged to the girl, and not the swimsuit. “Are you stalking me?” she asked, taking a step closer.

“N-no!” He stammered, dropping to his knees with his hands folded in front of his face. He almost looked like he was about to beg for soup. “Pleasedon’thurtmeI’msososososososorry!”

Blue hair took a step back, crossing her arms across her chest and raising an eyebrow. She blew a bubble and popped it with her teeth. “Why are you following me?”

Sam looked up at her, not sure what to say. “Uh. I like Eevee?”

“Yeah? More like you like girls who like Eevee.” She stretched out a hand and nudged his forehead back, knocking him onto his backside. “So what? You want to take my Pokemon? You’re gonna have to fight them out of me.”

That’s when she accidentally hit Sam’s confidence button. He smirked and stood up. “While I don’t give a rip about stealing Pokemon, I give plenty of rips about battling.” He grinned, grabbing Dexter’s pokeball from his belt as the two began backing away from one another to make a field.

“Three on three.”

“If you win, I’ll leave you alone.”

“And if you win, I’ll pretend to know your name.”

She nodded to the Eevee on her shoulder, and he bounded down to the floor with a pip. Sam clicked Dexter’s ball, and Totodile danced on out into their makeshift battlefield. “Toto Totodile! Toto Toto Toto Dile Dile DILE!”

__ __ __ __ __

Special Agent Kristine Apparently | Sin’s Penthouse

“Maybe he’s a spy!” Kristine said with an incredible amount of awe, gaping at the pile of gear now strewn all over the floor around them.

Sin looked at her. “He’s a butler.”

“A spy butler! It practically writes itself!”

He shook his head and fiddled with the case, which was apparently locked by some code. He spun the dials around to form random combinations -- none of which worked.

“Pika pi!”

Kristine looked up as Lumichu poked his head out from beneath some of the gear, a pair of spy goggles hanging limply on his head. She giggled and resituated them so they completely covered his eyes. The pikachu highly approved of this, jumping down on all fours, ready to pounce his victim.

“A spy pikachu! See? Anything’s possible!” Kristine patted Lumichu’s head before he bolted across them and out into the room again.

“He’s a butler, Kristine.”

“Growl!”

Kristine dug around the items and pulled out a sort of ski mask. She propped it lightly on top of Cade’s head and smiled brilliantly. Both Sin and Cade exchanged unamused looks.

“Chuuu...”

Sin gave Kristine a dangerous look. “If your pikachu causes more trouble, Kristine, I swear--”

“Oh, shush,” she said, waving the conversation aside. She crawled on her hands and knees across the room and by the door where Lumichu had been peering through the crack outside. “What’s out there?” she whispered playfully, taking a peek above him as if it were all a game.

Crebbins was in the kitchen.

“Chu!”

“He must be cookin’ something up!” Kristine said, then giggled at her apparent wit.

“It butter be pizza,” Sin said from behind. He positioned himself awkwardly over Kristine, who was crouched over Lumichu, and took a look himself. Cade stuffed his head below Kristine and above Lumichu, and the four of them watched the butler in the kitchen.

“Maybe bacon!”

“No, I don’t think he’s baking.”

“Water you doing, Lumichu?” Kristine grabbed his back and quietly pulled him into the room again.

“Piiiii!”

“Ooh, I’ve never had peas on pizza before.”

“I’ve had peas with dates before,” Sin said.

“A date with a pea!”

Kristine looked up when she heard Sin’s head hit the wall and giggled. He shook his head, but that was about all the reaction he could give to explain how ridiculous he found this conversation.

----

Sam | Gym: B2 Floor

“Give him one final bite, Totodile!”

“Tototototototototodiiiiiiile!”

The little croc pokemon clamped down on the second Eevee brother’s tail, making it squeal in pain. Before hitting the ground, the eevee gave Totodile one final scratch across the face, bringing them both to the floor.

“Come on back, Toby.” Laura took her Eevee back into his Pokeball, and Sam did the same for Dexter. He had a sly grin on his face. “What’s next, sweetheart? Another Eevee? Or maybe a Magikarp! It looks to me like you want to know my name!”

Blue Hair sighed, rolled her eyes, and tossed a Pokeball, bringing out a sweet little Smoochum.

Sam thought for a minute. “Okay,” he said, “if your smoochum can take down what I’m about to show you, then you can consider yourself the winner of our little bet.” With that, he threw out Flaaffy’s ball, and with a long baaaaaa, the sheep stumbled into action.

“Marie, give it a thunderpu--”

“Sweet kiss.”

Marie was asleep.

“Down for the count,” she said, grinning.

“Depends on who’s counting,” Sam replied, still smug, though definitely panicking.

A door creaked on the floor above, and two pairs of footsteps rang on the steel stairs as two guys in all-black appeared. Sam’s eyes went wide.

The girl with blue hair backed up, protecting her smoochum.

“Sam!” One said in a sharp whisper, “What are you doin’ down here?!”

Sam narrowed his eyes, nudging Flaaffy with his foot while the girl’s back was turned. The sheep baa’d again, but got up, yawning. “I could ask you the same thing, strange guys in strange clothes.”

The two guys looked at once another before stepping into better light.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me. David?!”

He coughed. “It’s Nighthawk.”

“...Right,” Sam deadpanned.

The girl stopped everyone with her hands out to her sides. “So, let me get this straight. You three know each other? And you’re conspiring against me and stalking me and ruining my chance at a good night’s sleep?”

Sam looked to David, who looked to Art, who looked to the invisible person not standing beside him. Then they all looked at the girl. “Sleep?” David asked, tilting his head. “This isn’t a hotel...”

The girl sighed, crossing her arms again. “I’m not about to spill personal details to three strangers, one that’s been tracking me all day, and two that are dressed in all black with Zubat droppings on their faces.

David touched his face and looked at his fingers, making a weird face.

“Look. I’m going to the leader’s suite to learn about my competition. Feel free to geek up the place down here until you decide to leave.” She picked up her bag and sauntered off across the room, leaving with a ding of an elevator.

The three boys stood together, watching the elevator as she left. And there was silence...until Sam broke it.

“Man, she’s great, isn’t she?”

David arched an eyebrow, wiping the black from under his eyes. “...Right. Arty, time to Lex up the security cameras.”

Agent Sinclair | Audley Headquarters

"I don't get it, what's so great about this Audino Hepburn Pok%uFFFDmon anyway?"

"She's a genius. A brown-eyed Audino too. We have all her films. Breakfast at Pidgey's, Hoenn Holiday, Sabrina..."

"Sabrina?" Kristine giggled. "Were Sabrina Pond's parents fans?"

"Probably. All the best people are." Sin pressed the button that slid the door of his DVD cupboard open.

"Is that really necessary?"

"What?"

"The button. Couldn't you just open the cupboard. Or get Peach to do it or something?"

Sin was disgusted. "But the button is cooler. Which one should we watch? Hm... oh. Breakfast at Pidgey's is already out. That's weird." He opened the box of the DVD and dropped it in horror.

"Psy?" Julius picked it up. Scrawled on the front of it was a message.

DAVID'S AND ART'S FAREWELL MESSAGE

"Um... what is this?" asked Kristine.

"They've ruined Audino!" Sin said, horrified, staring at the black marks over the Audino's face.

Kristine grabbed the DVD off Julius and shoved it into the player.

It was not Audino Hepburn's face that appeared on screen.

"If you are watching this," said David. "We are already dead."

"Buuuuuuuuuuuulb," said Berry dramatically. Kristine was slightly more incredulous.

"Why has he got Zubat droppings on his face?"

"We have gone to infiltrate that stronghold of evil that is the Celadon Gym. We plan on finding out about this mystery gym leader for your sakes and for the sake of all Pokémon trainers. We may not come back alive."

"Please, it's a gym leader, not a ninja. I bet Crebbins could take them down."

Kristine rolled her eyes. "Too much butler love, Sin. Too much."

"If you are seeing this, please inform our families of our untimely deaths," David said solemnly.

"My computer password is 'art4mew2'," said Art. "My most darkly kept secret. I want you to continue my research into Shinies."

"And please tell my parents that-" before David could finish his sentence, the camera suddenly toppled over and all they could see was carpet. The boys argued off screen, and then it turned itself off.

Sin and Kristine stared open-mouthed at each other for a good five minutes.

"Well," said Kristine. "I suppose we had better go after them."

"You don't think they're in any real danger, do you?"

"No, but think how sad they'll be if we just leave them to die. Come on. We can bring some of that Faelane climbing stuff of your butler's."

Sin frowned. "I'm sure it's not his."

"Whatever it is, it'll come in useful for breaking into a gym."

"I am not breaking in anywhere," Sin said indignantly.

"Oh come on. It's for a good cause. Besides, we're cute enough to get away with it if a security guard asks us."

"Cute? I resent that."

"Please, that puppy dog look you do? Cuter. Than. Lucy."

"EEV."

"Sorry, Luce." Kristine knelt down and patted her Eevee. "Will we do it?"

Sin sighed, looking at the Pokémon, at his apartment, then back to the TV screen where David had once been.

"Why not," he said with a sigh. "Any way to pass the time."

Katya's Twin | Mimeton, standing at the edge of town

Katya remembered her hometown; a large, yet stuffy place, crammed with buildings and alleyways and kids making racket around every corner. When winter came everyone shut themselves and their doors firmly, and for insurance, pulled the curtains over the windows after they closed them.

Mimeton reminded her much of the same; the same curtains drawn over each and every window, the same lack of people to be found on the streets, and the same coldness that sent her teeth into chatter mode every time the wind came around and swept the snow into large and beautiful circles.

It reminded her of the eight-year-old Katya, sitting beside an abandoned dumpster and looked up at the stars blinking dozily in the night sky, shivering violently as she chewed the last mouthful of the hot dog she’d stolen earlier. For Eve, however, it wasn’t really a lot of the same.

The aforementioned girl rubbed her head furiously, looking annoyed. “Honestly, I don’t see how far we have to take this. Oy, you!” She shouted at Hayden, who jumped. He shot a terrified glance at Katya that clearly said help me. “Don’t just stand there like a Magikarp with your mouth open, help me search this place! And YOU!”

Katya looked around, and then turned to Eve. “Are you talking to me?”

Just a few days earlier she and Eve had gotten into a big fight about who should lead the group. The fight had ended with inconclusive results, but Eve had chosen to treat Katya like she didn’t exist--that was, right up until this moment. Eve snorted and threw her hair back behind her shoulders, earning an irritated glare from the other girl. “Go and look at those woods outside of town.”

"I refuse." Katya sniffled. "I have better things to do than go out looking in woods that probably do not have Nicky in them. Therefore, I refuse."

Eve glared at her. "I said go, so go!" Katya's eyebrow twitched. "Just because you're oh-so-talented at snitching things doesn't mean you don't have to do your share. I said go, so go already!" It was this that made Katya lose her composure. The latter dropped her arms and clenched her fists, glaring directly at Eve.

“I don't like you. I really do not like you, so I vould appreciate eet if you stop ordering me about." Katya's accent was starting to slip as her temper rose, but it wasn't making her look any less intimidating. In fact, poor Hayden, who had been tugging at her arm rather nervously trying to make them stop, stepped back, shivering. "In fact, I vould very much prefer eet if you do not talk to me at all!"

Eve snorted and turned her back on her. "It's not like I want to talk to a criminal, anyway."

Katya turned her back on both of them, sniffling. "I do not want to talk with a narcissist, eizer." She turned around, towards the woods. "I will go, but only to get away from you." She grumbled underneath her breath, and then turned back, and to the the surprise of the other two, she grabbed Hayden's arm and started walking away towards the woods with him. "H-hey! She's not going to be happy, you know..."

"You seriously vant to stick around the Headless Horsewoman and lose your head as well?" Katya shot back. "I do not need to struggle with two of those, thank you very much!"

"The headless horsewoman?!" Hayden guffawed and looked back at Eve. If looks could kill, she'd have burned a hole in Katya's head right now. A very firey, smoking, Voltorb-sized hole. "B-but, she does have a head..."

“It ees a figure of speech!”

After around half an hour, she’d put an amount of distance between them and the town. Hayden was still pathetically flopping behind her; and then, Katya stopped, and looked up at the sky. The snowflakes seemed like fluffy white Jigglypuffs, the way they slowly danced down to the ground. Jigglypuffs... her pace slowed, and her breath came out in cloudy gasps that faded into the air as she began to think.

She didn’t honestly think it was possible that Nick would be found here. Katya knew that she was often more cynical than she had any right to be. (“H-hey, Katya?”) But it had been so long, and she wasn’t sure that he was honestly alive anymore. She didn’t like to think like that; (“Katya?”) Nick was someone she actually didn’t mind, someone close to being a friend. But she knew reality; and reality told her they wouldn’t find Nick that easily. “Um, Katya!”

“What?!” She snapped at him, and he gestured in front of them, looking somewhat timid. She realized what had gotten his notice. They had gotten pretty close to the woods now, and she could spy a house resting comfortably in front of them. Someone was in it, she could tell; rays of light lit the face of the clouded window. Katya squeezed Hayden’s arm (“OW!”) and frowned. Who on earth would live this far away from town in this infernal weather?

Nick | Mimeton Hills

Nick could practically hear the Pallet Town theme playing as he sat down for breakfast with his father. It was a cool, crisp winter day and, as Nick peered out the window on the ocean side of the cabin he tried to remember what that white stuff out there was called.

“Father,” he asked, but as usual he didn’t even get to the question before it was answered.

“We call it ‘snow’, Junior,” said his father, “but ‘tis not the name that would kill you, my son.”

Nick looked down at his plate and pushed the remains of his pancakes round in silence. Of course he couldn’t go out there and play -- his allergies. Nick knew he had to be careful, stay indoors, read his father’s plays and sonnets. He knew he couldn’t go out there without risking his life, so why did he always feel like he should be somewhere else?

“Do you have to work today, father?”

“Not today, Junior,” he said, wiping his mouth with those curious gloved hands. “How about a game? Betwixt you and I?”

“Hide and Seek,” Nick suggested.

“Oh Junior,” his father sighed. “Lend me your ear for a moment -- you know how I feel about chasing and... ‘catching’ games,” he finished with a shudder. “Let us leave that kind of barbarism to the monsters of this world.”

“What monsters?”

“Listen carefully, Junior,” said his father. “That was just a turn of phrase, a figure of speech. You know as well as I do that there are no monsters. Is that clear?”

“Yes father,” said Nick, but something told him to keep going. He needed to battle on...

“How about a nice game of charades,” his father suggested. It wasn’t a question. “You know how much I like that game.”

“Oh faaather,” Nick moaned. “But you always win that game -- I don’t even have a chance.”

“What nonsense,” his father replied. “At least it’s better than being out there in the cold throwing snowballs at each other. What a ludicrous sport! As if your allergies alone weren’t enough to keep us indoors--”

But Nick had stopped still in the process of clearing the table. He froze solid and the cutlery he was holding dropped from his hand. A word his father had spoken resonated in his mind, stirring thoughts and memories that were lost or, perhaps, suppressed...

“Snowballs?”

“What do you mean by that--?”

“Snow. Balls.”

“Cease those words this instant, Junior!”

“Snowballs.”

“You make a grave error in pursuing this. It’s... it’s n-not funny!”

But Nick knew all control had left him, like a thrown projectile it was on course and committed. He couldn’t recall it or have it return. With a clatter he dropped a plate he didn’t realise he was holding and turned across the room to the place he didn’t realise he’d been avoiding -- the cupboard.

“All this ado about... about nothing,” his father had collapsed down into his chair. He looked like he was going to cry, but Nick was focused on the cupboard. “Why could you not just accept me? Am I really such a blight, such a pox on this land?”

Nick reached for the cupboard’s handle. It was cool and hard and unyielding beneath his touch. He felt his breath becoming shorter, more ragged. His mind was screaming for him to leave it, to turn back to his father and comfort him and promise never to think beyond this shack again. But something deeper called to him from within that cupboard.

He had no choice but to open it.

With a whimper, Nick threw open the door and looked inside. A blue jacket, a brown satchel, an open notebook in his own handwriting. Beside them, three balls -- each of them made from two hemispheres, one red and one white. His heart was beating louder than he thought possible, and as he reached a hand towards them he heard his father cry out in a voice of pain soaked in anguish.

“Father,” Nick felt himself saying. “What are these?”

“I cannot-- I shall not--”

“Tell me!”

“I shouldn’t-- It’s too much for you at once--”

“Please,” Nick begged, the hysteria in the house seemed to be spreading. “What sort of father are you to deny your son...” The penny dropped. “Are you even my father?”

The man with the gloves held his head in his hands. “You don’t understand. You couldn’t possibly understand.”

“And what about my allergies? Are they real?” Now he knew why they said revelations come in threes. The man looked up at Nick. There were no tears in his eyes, but he could tell that this man was as close to them as you could be.

“I had to keep you here. No-one else would have seen me without... without prejudice.” He clutched his head again. “You remembered nothing and so you treated me with respect, with love.” He let out a deep breath. “This need to be loved. It’s only... human.”

“Human,” said Nick bitterly as he pulled on the blue jacket and slung the satchel over his shoulder. “Lying to me all this time? That isn’t human -- that’s monstrous.”

Something he said touched a nerve and the man with the gloves reared up from his chair. Anger blazed in his eyes and he pointed at Nick with an accusing finger.

“You’re just the same as all the others. All of them! You treat us like slaves because we’re different. You force us to work and make us fight for your enjoyment. You chain us up inside these prisons until it suits you to release us.” The man drew his face into a snarl. “And you have the tenacity to call us the monsters.”

Nick felt his hands shaking. He wouldn’t cry, not after so long. He wouldn’t.

“Take your sell-out monsters and go,” said the man, pointing a gloved finger to the balls in the cupboard. Nick scooped them up and carefully placed them in his bag.

“I... I don’t want to see you again,” he managed his last act of bravery without tears. Holding them back for just a few seconds more he turned to the door and opened it. A chill wind blew into the cabin, stirring the sheets of paper on the desk.

“Begone,” said the man. “I hope your despicable world remains as you like it.”

Nick shut the door behind him and left for good. He made it a full minute before the tears came at last. He fell to his knees in the snow and cried.

David | Celadon Gym Complex

“You know,” said Art in a hushed voice, “I’m really beginning to have doubts in your plans here, Dave.”

David pushed Art up further above his head, waiting for him to get a grip on the railing that led to the next floor. “Just relax,” he said in a strained voice, breath tight, “I’ve got everything under contrWHOA--” Art misplaced his hand and slipped, tumbling down on top of David and sending them both to the floor in a long, hushed groan. Art’s flashlight rolled around on the floor and shown a light on an elevator right beside them.

“Really, Dave? Really?” Art scrambled up and nabbed his flashlight, kneeling to peer at the elevator’s entry pad. “It’s locked by an alphanumeric password,” he said, and released Lex from his Pokeball. “Lex, I’m going to wire you to this sub-network. You use your analytic ability to crack their system and get us into the elevator.”

“Bzzztkii,” replied Magnemite.

David slowly rose from the floor and cracked his neck back and forth, watching Magnemite’s eye processing 1s and 0s at super speed. After a minute, his eye clicked green and the elevator ding’d, opening for their pleasure ride.

Art looked to David and grinned. “Technicians get things done..”

When the elevator stopped at the top floor, the door didn’t open. David looked at the floor display, the buttons, and the door itself, but nothing happened. “You don’t think security got us, do you?”

“No,” Art said, crouching by the control panel. He wired in his PokeGear and began typing away. Curiously, David pressed his ear to the metal door and listened. There were voices on the other side--and not just Laura’s. A man.

“Art,” David whispered, and crouched down behind him, “there’s some dude in there with Laura, and he sounds like trouble.”

Sam looked puzzled. “Maybe it’s the gym leader?”

“I doubt it. Would you spend your nights cooped up in an office beneath a gigantic tree?”

“No,” he replied, dejected, “no I wouldn’t.”

“Shh,” Art demanded, and the three listened carefully.

“Little missy, if you’re here in the middle of the night in the leader’s office, then you must be guarding somethin’. And if you’re guardin’ somethin’, it’s probably the Key Code to the tree’s power line. Now, that Key Code happens to be important to Team Rocket, and I’m gonna have to squeeze it outta ya, one little number at a time.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “He’s goin’ down.” He pulled out a Pokeball and threw it on the ground, releasing Scyther. “Manny, the door!”

Scyther honed its claws and reared back, slicing through the metal like it was paper. After a hundred or two almost-invisible slashes, the steel door shattered, falling to the floor in sheets of metal. Scyther flew through the entrance and landed with a battle cry behind the Rocket goon.

The man turned around, dropping his balls and backing away from the blade-handed Pokemon with his hands raised. “Wh-what’s goin’ on here?”

Sam snarled. “You’re scum, and I’m a germaphobe. You do the math, sucker. Manny?”

Scyther took a slice in front of the man, and his jacket fell to the ground. He snarled and picked up the cloth from the floor, backing away from the gang. “Fine. No trouble from me tonight. But you just got yourselves in a whole freakin’ world of pain, punks.” He raised his left hand as he backed up against the window and smashed it through the glass, filling the room with a gust of freezing night air. “I’ll remember your faces!”

He took a step back and jumped out the window, flying off as a huge bird Pokemon caught his fall.

The boys looked back to Laura, who was standing behind the leader’s desk, her face lit barely by the light of his computer screen.

“Well, it looks like we’re all gonna be locked up for this one,” she said, sitting back in the leader’s chair and crossing her arms. “You know, I honestly thought that I could have a decent night’s sleep in a place that wasn’t a junk heap for once, but I just can’t get a break.” She glared at the three boys. “I don’t guess you jokers work for the cops, neh?” She smirked. “Of course not. Cops wouldn’t let a criminal get away like that.”

The computer beeped, and she looked at the screen.

“Grass. The leader uses grass-type pokemon.” Laura sighed, laying her head in her hand. “You three should scram before the cops get here, you know.”

“We’re not gonna leave without you, Laura.”

Art checked his PokeGear. “They’re closing in fast,” he said. “The window must’ve triggered a silent alarm.”

David stood still, watching the blue-haired girl. “You don’t have anywhere to go?” he asked. She shook her head, her expression half-agonizingly proud and half lost. “Then come with us.”

Something down below fired off, and the sound of a whip cracking broke through the windy silence in the window’s wreckage. It was a grappling hook, snared into the floor. The three boys backed away...until they heard two familiar voices.

“I just think that Audino Hepburn puts Jigglypuff Garland to shame in her recent movies...I mean really, you made a brilliant musical a century ago, can’t we get past it already?”

David crept near to the window and peered out. Kristine and Sin were slowly riding the lapel line up to their window. Sirens blared down the street. He looked around at the three others in the room, and then at Sin and Kristine. “Guys,” he said. “GUYS!” The two looked up at him, and Sin had a scowl on his face.

“David Birch, when I get up there, we’re having a serious talk about your defacing my collector’s edition DVD!”

He popped his knuckles. “There’s no time--look, just get us out of here.”

Kristine giggled. “Sounds like we have leverage!”

The two rolled up into the window, and Sin dusted the glass off of his outfit. “Now, about our discussion--”

David gripped him by the collar and shook his head very slowly.

“Oh fine, we’ll talk later while we dine on Crebbins’ delicious cuisine--you know, it may be getting cold by now, but there’s always something to be said about food that maintains quality, even when it cannot maintain temperature!”

Art, Sam, and David just glared at him.

Sin held out his hand. “Five parachute pens, courtesy, apparently, of Faelane Industries...some Russian company that makes spy gear or something.”

Sam looked at his parachute pen, and then back at Laura. “We need another,” he said.

“Only five,” replied Sinclair, peering at his peculiar device as if it would pop open at any moment.

Sam bit his lip and thought for a moment, and then walked to Laura. “Look,” he said, taking her attention from the others. “I don’t know anything about you, and you probably hate my guts by now for stalking you and almost getting you killed, but I want you to take this and come with us.” He held out the pen. “You’ll have a place to stay and you won’t have to break into stuffy office buildings just to be warm. Just take the pen.”

Laura looked up at him and stared, unmoving, for a good minute. Studying, analyzing him. “Why can I trust you?”

“Because if you don’t, you’ll be arrested for a dozen different things.”

“Good enough,” she quipped, and grabbed the pen. “How will you get out?”

Sam looked at Manny, who spread his wings and let out a cry. “I think I know.”