Can anyone tell me where I can find a guide with a list of moves that pokemon learn as they level up? Color me lazy, but I don't want to have to replay Ruby and Crystal just so I can figure out what moves pokemon should have… or drop fifty dollars buying guidebooks. I used to have a really good one for Crystal version, but it vanished off the face of the earth, and the last time I went hunting for it I almost fainted from dust inhalation.

Second Prologue: Girl

(Aboard the rail, en route to Saffron. Watch the night-dark hills roll by, but don't fall off…)

Katia's large blue eyes filled with tears as she looked at the landscape blurring past the window as she toyed with the contents of her purse, her fingers caressing a small, tubelike piece pf plastic at the very bottom. A pregnancy test. Once, just once, she would love for it to turn blue. A little boy, a little girl, she didn't care at this point, she wanted a child of her own more than anything else in the world. She and her husband had been forced to sell the house her parents had left her to get enough extra money to see a fertility doctor…

That had been a year and four doctors ago. Still no baby.

She was really, really beginning to loathe the color blue, and it didn't help that she had to see it every time she caught her eyes in a mirror. And why not? Blue certainly seemed to hate her. She hated that damn color almost as much as she was beginning to hate medical bills…

"Katia. There's no need to dwell on it," her husband, Norman, sighed. "The very best doctors are in Saffron. We'll be able to find someone there who can help you."

The woman bit her lip, turning her face away from him. "Will we? The money is almost gone, Norman. What are we going to do then? Give up?"

"Of course not. I'll go back to the tournaments and win more money, and we'll try again," he said, determined. "And if conventional treatments won't help… I know a doctor in Saffron. Maybe he can point us to some alternate treatments that actually work." Neither of them breathed a word about adoption. They were a wandering family following Norman's career. Maybe if he managed to make Gym Leader some day, then they would be able to settle in one place and live on a consistent salary, and adoption would be possible. But until then they had a better chance of catching the moon with a butterfly net than getting an adoption agency to give them a child, and Norman getting a position as a Leader would be at least ten years down the line… maybe even more. Katia didn't want to wait ten years. She wanted a baby now!

"Do you… do you ever regret marrying me?"

Norman blinked, confusion filtering into his dark eyes. "Katia, I know you have some true foot in mouth moments, but… why would I ever do a stupid thing like that?"

"I… you're a Trainer, and a good one too. You could have chosen anyone. And maybe if you'd chosen someone else, you'd already have the son I know you've always wanted…"

He glanced at her consideringly for a moment. "You know, I've often wondered the same thing about you. Why did you pick someone like me, always on the road with no home of his own, sleeping under the stars or in a Pokemon Center more often than anyplace with a comfortable bed, sometimes not even scratching out enough money for food, when you could have had someone much better suited to give you a decent lifestyle?"

"Don't be silly, Norman, I already knew all that when I said our marriage vows. I wanted you. I don't care where I have to go to get you, either."

"Well then, I feel the same way," he reassured her, a somewhat relieved grin spreading across his face. "I love you, Katia. I will admit that I want a child, but not enough to leave you for someone else. If I have to wait for two years, or five, or until I'm in a good enough position to retire or gain a good position in a Gym so that we can adopt, I'll wait." He lovingly brushed a strand of light brown hair out of her face and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. She finally smiled back at him. She couldn't help herself. Norman always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. "So don't give up, okay? We'll make this work out." He wrinkled his nose and chuckled. "We've certainly had plenty of experience at coping in the past. And I think if we could cook pokemon food into something edible, we can take just about any problem that life throws at us and make something good out of it."

Katia actually giggled at that quip. "I actually remember that trip, Mr. 'we don't need to stock up on more supplies, darling.' You never did end up using those full heals, either."

"How was I supposed to know that people were so generous with dropping their Antidotes – and usually their entire packs, I don't think I had to buy any Pokemon supplies for two months after that trip – when they were running from the Beedrill swarms? What I remember is-" A piercing wail shattered the good mood like glass, and they sprang to their feet, scanning the empty car for the source of the noise.

A woman wrenched the door open and tripped over the slight step up from the small and twisting metal corridor that connected the cars together, catching herself from falling flat on her face by desperately clutching the back of one of the chairs, forcing her to her knees with a whimper of pain and fear. Her wild blood-red hair seemed to be trying to go every direction at once, and her golden eyes (an uncommon but not unheard of trait among humans) were wide in terror. Slender, almost sticklike arms clutched the chair she'd used to break her fall as if that was all that was keeping her very pregnant stomach from dragging her to the floor. How can she abuse her poor baby like that? Katia wondered with a flare of jealous fury, taking her at first glance to be one of those expecting mothers who starves herself to try and keep the figure she'd had before getting pregnant, but a second look showed her something far more sinister. Her clothing was filthy, tattered, and sized for several completely different people. She had no luggage, no purse. And her heavy breathing and facial expression weren't manifestations of fear for what had almost happened, but signs of what was going to happen next.

"Ma'am? Are you alright?" Norman asked, offering an arm to help her up.

"Do I… look alright?" she snapped, but she did not refuse the help to her feet. "They weren't…. weren't supposed to follow me here. The rail was supposed to be safe." Tears pricked at the corners of her golden eyes. "He always said we'd be safe… if only we could get out of Johto. Well, now he's… he's dead and… I'm alone. Just me and the baby… the baby that will never be born. I was… never going to get to Kanto. Not alive, anyway…"

"Someone's chasing you, and they're on the train?"

She gulped and nodded. "I managed to slip past them, somehow, but they saw me and they're coming this way…"

"If you'd forgive me for asking," Norman said, stepping in front of her and pulling out a pokeball, "can you tell me who this mysterious 'they' is?"

The woman swallowed a sob, the tears that she wanted to shed shining in her eyes. "Team… Rocket."

The door from the other car started to rattle and Norman blanched. "Katia, take her and head up to the front of the train. Lock the door behind you if you can figure out how, but someone else needs to know that the Rockets are here."

"But… weren't they disbanded years ago by the Lady Azure?" Katia asked. Surely a League Master wouldn't have lied, but the redheaded woman was too frightened to be telling anything but the truth… right?

"Apparently they're not as gone as everyone thought. Go! I don't want you to get hurt."

"I…"

"Katia. Go. Please… it sounds like they're trying to break down the door."

Katia blanched. As much as she wanted to say that she could help somehow, she knew that that wasn't true. If Norman had to fight, all she would do was get in the way. "Come on… we need to get out of here," she said, seizing the strange woman's hand.

Golden eyes widened in surprise. "You're… helping me?"

"Of course we are," Katia snorted, half dragging her down the isle. "What, did you just expect us to give you up to Team Rocket or something?"

"You would be far from the first," she said sadly.

Katia snorted. "Some people are slime. I would like to think my husband and I are different." She half turned back and shouted over her shoulder, "You'd better not get yourself hurt, Norman!"

"I'll do my best," he replied wryly, not looking away from the door.

"Goddamned bitch melted the fucking lock!" someone roared from behind as the door gave way with a metallic crunch. The redhead blanched even paler on hearing that and grabbed Katia's arm, dragging her into the next car instead of the other way around and activating the switch, closing out the brewing fight behind them. She then placed a hand against the door, which, to Katia's everlasting surprise, started to glow.

"What are you doing?" Katia gasped, snatching her hand away.

"Trying… to keep us both alive," she panted.

"How? By sealing my husband on the wrong side of this door? How is that going to make us any safer?"

"Insurance… for when he loses…"

Katia glared. "Listen, you… you really shouldn't underestimate Norman. He'll pull through, just like he always does," she said confidently. She believed it too, even against God-knows-how-many Rockets.

"No use, anyway… Not enough… strength left…" her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into a convenient chair.

"Um… hello?" Katia asked, tapping her arm. "Are you still alive?"

Golden eyes opened to slits. "I'm… fine. Just give me… a minute, okay?" It took what seemed like half of eternity for her breathing to slow down to something more reasonable, and Katia watched nervously. With her huge belly supported by her sticklike arms and legs, she seemed so… fragile. "Your husband… he is a very good man."

"I'm glad you agree," Katia said proudly.

"He's… too good to risk himself for me. Help me through the door… I will turn myself over. There is no need… for anyone else to become… embroiled in my affairs tonight."

"What? Don't say things like that. I told you earlier, Norman will definitely send those creeps packing."

"Yes… but if you stand between them… and what they want… they will not forgive you for it… Just like they did not forgive Kosuke."

"What happened?" Katia asked before she could stop herself. Well, what do you THINK happened, Katia? Look at who you're talking to for a change instead of just opening your mouth blindly and saying stupid things!

"The Rockets came, and for seven months we ran. Four months ago… we were cornered. They wanted me. They… killed him. The building was collapsing. He held them inside while I ran like the coward I am." Tears welled up in her golden eyes again. "It is all my fault. I should not have come here. I should… if I had never married him, he'd…"

Why is this sounding vaguely familiar? "I may not have known your husband, but I'm sure that he wouldn't want you to continue to beat yourself up over this."

"How can you be so sure?" the woman asked, her voice choked with tears.

"You don't marry someone you don't love. You don't throw your life away for no reason. I'm sure that what he wanted most was for you – and the baby – to be happy."

The redheaded woman smiled bitterly and placed an emaciated hand on her swelling stomach. "Once I wanted Kosuke's children more than anything in the world. And now it seems – irony of ironies – that that shall be the death of me. Perhaps this is my punishment."

"Don't say things like that. You'll be fine."

"Really? Look at me. Do you think I could survive childbirth in my condition?"

"Of course I do!" Katia declared stubbornly, but in the privacy of her mind she was comparing the muscle mass that the woman had left against the size of her stomach and was not liking what she was seeing.

The redhead's lips twitched upward in the closest thing to a real smile that Katia had seen her give so far. "You truly are a good woman, Katia. Thank you for trying to cheer me up."

Katia opened her mouth with a mutinous expression on her face, set to tell her that she was going to be just fine, and that she and Norman would see to that, but the words just didn't want to come out. They tripped over themselves inside her mouth, forcing her into silence.

Oscar greedily rubbed his hands together, all but cackling at his opponent's Furret. A plain old vanilla Normal-type. Nothing as commonplace as a Furret could be a freak like that Typlosion the Lady Azure had had. And the idiot was outnumbered three to one. Since they had saved half their pokemon in reserve once it had become clear that Crystal Haldrien planned on utterly annihilating them, they were more than well prepared to take out one Vanilla Normal-type between the three of them. He could almost taste his promotion…

"Wheezing, use Sludge!" he commanded. Much as he liked starting things off with Poison Gas, quarters were too cramped to make that practical…

"Furret, hold your breath and charge Wheezing with a Headbutt!" the stranger commanded, and Oscar was treated to yet another impossible act as the damn thing charged right through Wheezing's toxic slime as if it were a Mud Slap. It covered the distance across the car only slightly hindered by the onslaught and crashed into Wheezing, a furry little rocket locked onto its target. The force of the blow was enough to knock Whezing haphazardly all over the car, bouncing off walls, other people, the Serviper and the Golbat, spewing mouthfuls of toxic sludge and spurts of noxious gas as it deflated. Oscar's eyes watered as it ricocheted past his head. They would all be in serious trouble if it kept leaking poison like that. "Wheezing, return!" he called out, but the thing bounced left instead of right, and the beam of light missed it by a good foot and a half. "Okay, now attack the Serviper with Fury Swipes!"

"Ret!" the evil thing chirruped cheerfully as it started to charge.

"Uh, Serviper! Use Wrap!" the Serviper's trainer commanded in a panic.

"Idiot," Oscar muttered, pulling his uniform issue cap further over his eyes. The Serviper threw its body around the Furret… which only served to infuriate the creature, causing it to lash out viciously with tooth and claw, inflicting far more damage than it probably would have if it had merely been allowed to attack and spring back. Even the Serviper's attempts to constrict did little to halt the onslaught.

"Why are you trying so hard?" Oscar found himself asking. "You don't even know the woman. She's not even human! She's just using you as a shield to hide behind. All she cares about is escape." Once more he tried to recall his Wheezing, only to hit the empty air when it bounced in the wrong direction.

"Really, I have to wonder why…" Norman said sarcastically. "Regardless of her intensions, I refuse to leave her to your tender mercies. If you will agree to retreat to the last car and remain there for the duration of the journey, and to stop following the three of us once we get off, I'll let you all go free. No charges filed."

Oscar snorted. "Like we'd back off for that!"

The dark-haired man scowled. "It's a pretty decent offer. If you get caught, you'll probably be facing about ten years of jail time, and that woman's story comes out."

Oscar threw his head back and laughed. "Now that's an empty threat if I ever heard one! If her story comes out, little Ria Anasera will be stuck in a laboratory for the rest of her life! Ours, yours, it makes little difference to her, it's still a cage. And if we back down now, if we make a deal with you, the Boss would stick us all in Project Ethera." The others with him, who had been looking somewhat hopeful at the mention of the words 'go free', shuddered and got back onto task.

Norman's eyes narrowed. "And what is Project Ethera?"

"No one knows," Oscar said with a nasty smile. "All we grunts know is that people go in… but they never come out again." He once more tried to snatch up his Wheezing with the recall beam – the smog was starting to make breathing a trial – but once more he missed. This time, however, it didn't bounce off in a random direction, it flew straight at his face. Well shit, Oscar had time to think before his much-deflated wheezing smacked into his midsection, throwing him diagonally across the car. He was flying straight for a window and not dropping even slightly in his trajectory. At the speeds this thing could reach, the only thing that would happen if he went out of the car would be for him to leave a bloody splatter on whatever was below them, even if it was water. He squeezed his eyes shut and put his hands over his head in a useless attempt to buffer the impact…

…and a hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed his shirt. His head still snapped out and struck the window with enough force to make him see blackish-neon fireworks dance across his vision, but he was otherwise unhurt.

"Couldn't you have managed to catch me before I hit the glass, idiot?" he snarled, smacking the helping hands away.

"Uh, Oscar…" one of his companions said.

"Well what?" he snarled, before realizing that he had flown in the wrong direction for either of them to have broken his flight to imminent destruction. The only person who could have saved him was…

Norman's dark eyes seemed to glitter like chips of black glass in the gloom as he picked up Oscar's pokeball and recalled the Wheezing. "Don't get me wrong," he snapped, dropping the pokeball in Oscar's lap. "If you had gone through the window, all the air would have been sucked out of the car. Everyone would have died, not just you."

"Heh," Oscar sneered. "You just didn't want a death on your conscience. You couldn't kill us even if it meant your own life."

Norman smiled thinly. "And that is what makes me better than you." Just then, his Furret clawed its way free of the Serviper's embrace, and it flopped bonelessly on the floor, panting and gurgling up bubbly blood.

Katia paced the length of the car. It was a horrible nervous habit of hers that she'd been trying to break for years, but she just couldn't help herself. It certainly didn't seem to bother her companion much. The redhead's unblinking gaze had not left the door since they had stopped talking.

"What are you waiting for?" Katia asked.

"The end of my existence," the woman replied, eyes fixed unblinkingly straight ahead.

"Don't say things like that. Norman is going to win and you are going to be fine. We will help you."

A smile flickered across the woman's lips like a brief burst of sunshine peeking out from behind a cloud before it was snuffed out again. "You say that so many times that I almost begin to believe it myself.

Just then the door began to slide open and they both jumped. To Katia's surprise, light began to concentrate in the woman's tightly clenched fist. When the door slid back to reveal Norman, Katia sighed in relief and relaxed, but Ria just quivered, like a bowstring pulled taut.

"Are they defeated?" she asked softly.

"Yes," Norman replied, looking her straight in the eye, not even blinking at the light concentrated around her fist. "Yes, they are." She seemed to believe him, the tension drained out of her and the light died. Her knees buckled beneath her, depositing her into one of the chairs where she seemed to sink nervelessly into the sparse cushioning, her golden eyes dazed and relieved.

"I knew you'd be just fine!" Katia declared with a smile.

"I assume that's why you neglected to go up one more car and inform the driver?" he asked with a smirk.

"There was no need to upset the other passengers," Katia said with a huge grin.

"Did you kill them?" the redhead interrupted softly, sounding almost asleep.

Norman's eyes widened slightly. "Of course I didn't! I knocked them out and tied them to the benches. Someone will come by and arrest them later."

The redhead shook her head sadly. "That is kind of you, but foolish. If they live to report your face and name back to the main base, you'll never be safe again. You and your wife will be in constant danger. I can't let that happen."

"Well, we're going to be in constant danger anyway, since you're traveling with us from now on," he replied with a faint grin.

Her head snapped up and the dreaminess fled from her posture. "What? No, I couldn't possibly intrude on your lives like that! These people are horrid and relentless and they do not care who they hurt!"

"Which is why you need protection," Katia piped up, smiling her approval at her husband. "You don't have anyone left to care for you, so we'd be happy to help… if you let us. We're always on the move… but I guess you're used to that, aren't you?"

"I… I can't!" she cried, allowing herself to cry for the first time in months. "Don't you understand! Kosuke died when they destroyed the foundations of the hotel we were hiding in! We were far from the only people staying there, and when it fell…" she shuddered visibly, "half the people staying there died! Staff. Guests. Children. Other Rockets. They have no compunctions and absolutely no respect for life whatsoever. If you tie yourselves to me you will die. I… I could not bear it if that happened…"

"Listen to me, Ria," Norman said, and the redhead jerked at the mention of her name. "Yes, I said Ria. One of the Rockets let your name slip when I was battling him. I know that you are hunted, I know that you own nothing but the clothes on your back, and I know that you are… different. I do not care. Katia does not care. We know that you and your baby need help, and we are more than happy to give it.

"You cannot possibly know what you are getting yourselves into. There is a difference between living on the road and living on the run," Ria protested, but her resolve seemed to be weakening.

"Not that much of a difference," Katia said with a wry chuckle.

Ria signed and buried her head in her hands. "You people are even more impossible than the woman who gave me this rail card," she sighed, twirling the piece of white plastic in her fingers. "Very well. I will travel with you if you will allow me."

"We weren't offering just to make ourselves look good. You're welcome to come with us," Norman replied with a small smile.

The train careened along the rail, heedless of what was going on within it.

(The Goldenrod City Underground. If it looks like bait, acts like bait, and has blue hair, run away.)

I am bait, Crystal chanted in her head while wandering the deserted underground shopping area of Goldenrod. Jailbait, her mind added, and it was an effort not to laugh hysterically at the pun. She forced her expression to the sort of jaded nonchalance that she'd seen on women who actually plied this profession. You do not see a Master. Look at my pretty makeup and my cheesy jewelry and my very short skirt. I am a whore. Hello, bad guys, easy fun right here! Look at the pretty Jynx lure and come to nibble! The people who had the Aether Crystal had a shopping front somewhere in the Underground that they were using to move the crystals, but she'd been scoping it out for several days and had only managed to narrow it down to five. Mic's Pokemon Accessories, the Aster Family Herbal Medicine Store (For both humans and pokemon! Green Tea now 40 Percent off!), The Cornerstop Ice Cream Parlor (Made with authentic Miltank Milk from Daybreak Dairy! Come visit us on Route 39!), Justin and Enrique's Fine Salon (Pokemon and Trainer Special! One Week Only!), or Diamonds Forever! Makers of Fine Jewelry for over a Hundred and Fifty Years! Crystal personally felt that Diamonds Forever was probably the most logical choice, since if the police did search them the crystals could easily be explained away with the rest of their products (Not that she could go to the police with a story this wild), but all five stores seemed to be escorting an inordinate number of customers to the back for no reason that she could discern. She had known for a while that most of the smuggling probably took place at night, but she hadn't been able to think of any way to get down there without sticking out like a sore thumb. Well, now she had her way. And she had that rude Rocket to thank for it too. Now all she had to do was wander around… and wait to be picked up.

She had only two pokemon with her, disguised as earrings (a nifty trick she'd picked up from a trainer named Lola at the Blackthorn gym) She'd actually seen girls wear fake pokeball earrings before, so hopefully no one would try punching the button to see if the pokeball expanded. That would be… painful.

Will I really be okay with only two Pokemon with me, and one of them a Gengar that only listens to me half the time anyway? she wondered glumly as she strode along in her stiletto heels, briefly scanning her outfit one last time before snapping her eyes up. Whores did not check their outfits. Whores were utterly self confident… at least to the eyes of their customers. The brief scan only confirmed what she'd figured out for herself earlier: the skintight violet tube top (more like violet scarf that just happened to cover her breasts, but for the sake of her dignity she would call it a tube top), long transparent shimmery pale lavender sleeveless coat, and black leather micromini skirt did not have any room to hide anything, not even something as small as a condensed pokeball. Any more pokeball jewelry would look very suspicious. She'd been lucky to figure out a place to hide the Rainbow Feather (snug inside her zipup stiletto black boots)…

Well, at least I didn't wear this getup for nothing, she thought with a mental victorious smile and an external saucy smirk Large crates were being moved in and out of Mic's Pokemon Accessories by men who were looking hot, sweaty, and… edgy. Bored would have been more appropriate for the situation, even eager to be in bed would have been appropriate (Was it late or early? She'd begun to lose track.). Edgy meant that they were doing something that they weren't supposed to do.

Perfect.

"My, my, that looks like some heavy lifting," she cooed, batting her eyelashes coyly. The two men jerked and almost dropped their crate before they realized who had addressed them. Then their expressions became nearly identical goofy grins. Thank goodness for the common low level of intelligence among the peons of the organized crime world. "Why are you boys working so late? You should come have some fun," she said with a wink and a beckoning gesture. Thank you, Quartz, for destroying my innocence… it actually came in handy.

"We gotta finish moving these things. They get loaded in an hour."

"An hour is plenty of time for my kind of fun," she cooed with her saucy smile. "C'mon, help a girl out… it's been a slow night. You can even have a two for one special. Only three thousand for the both of you."

"That doesn't seem like much of a break…"

"That's barely enough to feed me for three days," she cut in coldly. Then the sweet, gooey seductiveness(at least, she hoped it was seductiveness and she wasn't just making a total fool of herself) was back, and with a smoky smile she amended, "besides… I'm worth it." She ran a finger gently along the heavily muscled bicep of one of the lifters and smiled more wickedly when he swallowed hard. "So… what do you say we step inside somewhere and I help you… loosen up a bit?"

"Sure," the first one agreed eagerly, all but dropping his end of the large crate, forcing his companion to hastily put down his end as well. The crate landed awkwardly with the sound of rocklike objects rattling together and the clink of metal. Why hello, I do believe this is the jackpot.

"Be careful with that, you idiot!" the second one snapped. "There's some fragile stuff in here!"

"Relax, it'll be fine. Let's take her in…"

"No, if we're going to do this properly, we'll do it my way. A high-class girl like her likes her sparklies. Let's show her the inside of Diamonds Forever."

"Hey, yeah!" the first one agreed.

"Huh? Does everyone in this strip have you poor boys working the night shift?" she asked sympathetically.

"Eh, actually this place and the jewelry store and a few other places in the Underground are moving a lot of weird things through lately," first guy told her as if confiding a really big secret.

"Huh, you mean like drugs? If I could have a hit later, I'd be willing to cut your fee in half," she asked hopefully.

"Sadly no. All it is is some crystals and a lot of weird techno stuff. And these guys are like, phobic about the junk. I only got a look inside because one of the boxes split, and the guy who pays us nearly wet himself, asking about if we'd told anyone and Muk gunk like that. So even though it looks useless, it must be super illegal," second guy informed her with a secretive smirk, obviously trying to impress her. Sad, really. She'd initially put his intelligence a notch higher than his partner's.

"It sounds really dangerous," she gushed appreciatively as they led her over to the jewelry store with what seemed like agonizing slowness. If she only had an hour to search she wanted to make the most of it, but she didn't dare risk acting overtly until they were out of plain sight of the main walkway.

"Only if we get caught," the first one reassured her as he fiddled with the lock on the door. It seemed like small eternities passed with every clumsy fumble to try and open the door, and if any of her extreme impatience bled over to her facial expression, then hopefully the idiots would think it for the money, or maybe the possibility of jewelry. "Until then, it's about as safe as… why, as safe as being a street whore."

She tittered appreciatively at his unknowing joke, because in three seconds he was going to find out just how 'safe' his job actually was…

Yes! she inwardly cheered. The lock came undone and chains fell to the tile with a clatter that seemed to echo in the mostly deserted underground and the door swung open with the agonizing slowness of a dream. Together they stepped inside, Grunt Number Two copping a feel as they went. That was alright. He was going to be repaid for that in spades any second now.

"What a lovely store!" she said breathily. "In thanks for showing me… how 'bout I help with that loosening up I promised." She detached one of her earrings and then, only then, did they realize that there was something highly suspicious about a whore wandering the underground instead of cruising the Lowtown down by the Mart and the Center…

"Hey, just what do you think you're…"

"Gengar! Help me out with a Hypnosis attack!" she called out, throwing the pokeball. For once, the thing actually followed the order without the tiniest hint of a complaint, and the idiots were out like lights. "Phew! Ho-oh be thanked for the weak-minded and the witless."

-What on earth are you supposed to be almost dressed as?- Gengar asked, turning back and almost fading through the floor before it could suppress its surprise.

"Did you miss the whole 'live bait' argument I had with Cinder?" she hissed, summoning her trusty Typlosion. "Now, both of you do me a favor and check that crate outside. I'm going to see if I can find anything useful here," she replied, fishing through Grunt One's pocket to find his keyring.

-That'll be pretty hard to do without touching anything. I've seen the Pokemon that touch those crystals. They go crazy. I mean, totally, Zubat-guano insane,- Gengar nervously protested.

"I'm not asking you to touch anything! I'm asking Cinder to rip the top off that crate so you can look inside and tell me if the crystal's there and I'll pick it up! Now we only have an hour and we have at least two shops to search and those idiots could wake up any day now since Hypnosis isn't the most reliable technique in the world and let's get going already!"

-You are never allowed to say that much without taking a breath again,- Gengar told her leadenly.

-She's flustered,- Cinder replied sagely. -I think it's the outfit…-

"You! Search! Now!" she shouted, punctuating each word by gesturing strongly to the open door with her outstretched hand.

-…and now she's down to monosyllables. Wonderful. Let's leave before she burns the store down. Thank you, vapor brain, for pissing her off,- Cinder grumbled as they both exited the store.

-Hey, this is at least half your fault for bringing attention to that getup,- Gengar protested as the door slid halfway shut behind them, partially muffling the sound. She bypassed the display cases and the cash register, heading straight for the door that read 'Employees Only'. It only took three tries on the keyring before she found the key to get her in, and when the door opened she half fell into the back room.

Okay, scratch back room, she thought to herself, make that more like back warehouse.

The room was huge, filled with crates, crates, and more crates. How could they possibly have gotten so many crates into the underground without someone noticing? How had they explained everything?

A furtive, desperate scan yielded a room marked 'Office. Keep Out.' in bright red letters. She let the keyring slide from her fingers and rushed over to it as quickly as she could manage in four inch heels. There was no point in even trying the other keys. No mere hired muscle would have the key to an office.

Running as close as she could get to full tilt, she threw her weight against the door hoping she wouldn't have to resort to drastic measures…

And fell promptly on her face. The door hadn't even been closed properly, let alone locked.

Blinking Hoothootishly as she tried to adjust to the light, she picked herself up and dusted off her 'clothing'. Bad enough that she'd had to dress like a whore to pull this off without looking as if she'd put a rough night in as one too.

A brief scan of the room revealed a computer monitor sans hardware, blank copying paper, and a safe with a note taped to it. Struck numb with surprise, she gently removed the note, letter really, and started to read.

Dearest Miss Haldrien,

Welcome back to Goldenrod! I must say, I did not expect young Master Kelshin would mean so much to you for you to make this much effort! I have watched you assessing the situation for the last four days with a great deal of enjoyment. Did you know that you grind your teeth when you are especially frustrated?

If you are reading this, you must have managed to find a more subtle way into this store than the 'guns blazing' tactic you were so fond of as a youth when challenging Team Rocket. I congratulate you in your growth as a strategist, and I am looking forward to reviewing tonight's security tapes. I imagine they will be most amusing. Now, of course, it is time for me to address the matter over which you have attended me with your radiant presence. Your sneak thief's Aether Crystal – the new home for his soul – is in the safe that this note was attached to, and the combination to the lock is 22-17-34-06-00. I shall give you this small victory in granting me enough warning to evacuate the facilities before the Goldenrod police swarm them – for if you, my dear and naïve young friend, have managed to find this place it should not be much time before even those bumbling idiots are able to locate us. You may search the crates still within the building to your heart's content, I fear they are quite empty, as are those in Mic's Pokemon Accessories and The Cornerstop Ice Cream Parlor. No, the other two stores you are looking at have nothing to do with me, although the herb shop has a very interesting sideline that the authorities and the Pokemon League might disapprove of.

It is my most sincere hope that we can end our business here, although from what I know of you there seems to be a certain – relentlessness – in your nature. Should you seek a misbegotten revenge for what has befallen your lover – I remind you that it is he who attempted to rob me of what I have created with my own research, funds, and backbreaking labor – I would warn you that you will not make out nearly as well as you did here. In fact, you will not even do as well as you did at the end of the Blackthorn incident. Suicune is no longer hovering over your shoulder to catch you when you fall. And if you continue in this business, Lady Azure, you will fall far.

On that note I bid you adieu. May you enjoy the rest of your evening, morning, or whenever it is that you should find this letter.

Most Respectfully Yours,

A Simple Businessman

With the sort of meticulous care of someone standing on the brink of an avalanche, Crystal spun the combination and opened the lock and opened the safe. She grabbed at the bottom corner of the diaphanous robe she was wearing over her skimpy clothing and carefully extracted a silvery crystal swirled through with black and a collar made of goldish metal with a diamond-shaped insert made for the crystal that allowed it to stay in contact with the skin at all times when worn.

Immediately after she had retrieved the contents of the safe, the letter burst into flame.

(Welcome to Saffron City. The end and very beginning of an adventure)

When Ria steeped out into the station and peeked at a Saffron just barely illuminated by a sky going to the dark blue of predawn, she first thought that she might still be in Goldenrod. Both cities had used a yellowish brick to build most of their buildings, giving everything a uniform sameness. However, judging by the skyscrapers raking across the skyline, Saffron was easily twice the size of Goldenrod.

"Come on!" Katia said joyfully. "First we're going to check into a hotel, and then we're going to wait for some of the shops to open up. The least we can do is get you some decent clothes. Um," she trailed off, blushing. "Not that your clothes are bad or anything…"

Ria snorted. "Please. They're all but falling off me and we both know it. There's no need to try and spare my feelings, I know exactly what I look like. It is my fondest dream to never have to wear anything I have been forced to take a needle to ever again. I am a horrible sewer… as you can clearly see," she replied, twirling in an exaggerated circle to model her butchered skirt.

"Um yes, well… why don't the two of you sit here, and I'll just go get us some drinks and early morning snacks out of the vending machine," Norman offered, sensing that the topic of conversation was veering off into the realm of feminine things that he was ill suited for.

"You do that dear. Ria, do you have any preferences for food?"

"I cannot digest meat. Anything else would be fine," she replied, hoping that she didn't sound too eager for food. The grilled vegetables and rolls that she'd bought from Crystal Haldrien's hotel seemed like a distant memory, although she knew it had probably only been three or four hours. Still, although she felt like she could eat a Rapidash, she knew she could not afford to try. First of all, her stomach was not used to actually being fed as much as it clamored for, and eating her fill would probably make her sick. Secondly, she did not want to strain the hospitality she had been offered, not when she had nothing to give in return.

I am like a child given a rikshara, a glass doll. I am too afraid of breaking it to play with it at all, she scolded herself, doubly so for sliding back into the sacred tongue. That language might as well be dead to her. Although she still retained a fraction of her power, the sacred incantations had not answered her since she had selfishly abandoned her duties to see the human world….

A twinge deep in her lower abdomen scattered her thoughts. No, she moaned within the safety of her own mind. By the sacred flame of the Rainbow Altar… not now. Please not now. I still have time! Two weeks yet, surely, to try and regain some strength. One week. Even five days. Just a little time to rest and recover, so I can be there for my daughter or son, she begged the cold, unfeeling universe, although she secretly suspected that she was going to have a daughter. She had felt that the baby would be a girl for quite some time…

Perhaps something out there had decided to take mercy on her. The pain vanished.

"Is something wrong, Ria?"

"No. Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine now," she said with a smile. Still the pain did not return, and now she allowed herself to melt back onto the bench in relief. Everything really is fine, she thought to herself, leaning back and allowing her eyes to slide shut without fear of not waking for the first time in months. I do not know why, but these people really do want to help me… perhaps they cannot have children of their own, and wish to help me raise mine? Thinking about it, it made a great deal more sense then randomly offering her kindness. She could live with that. It was a more, well, human reason to want to help her.

"Oh, good," Katia sighed, relieved. "So, once we're done shopping for you, maybe you'd like to pick out some baby clothes too?" she asked eagerly, as if this was something she'd been wanting to do herself for quite some time, cementing Ria's decision in her mind. Not that she would be rude enough to embarrass Katia by asking.

"That would be wonderful," Ria sighed. "Still… everything seems so surreal. This time yesterday I was too busy worrying about when they were going to get me, where my next meal was coming from, to think of much else. I haven't been able to think ahead in quite some time." For example, what was she going to name her daughter? Sharein would be part of the name somehow, the trainer Crystal might never know of the honor being paid to her, but it would make her feel better about all the aide she had accepted from the woman. It was really too bad that she did not know what Katia meant, or perhaps she could name her daughter after the woman who was helping her now as well…

They chattered on about baby clothing and toys for several more minutes before Norman came back with sandwiches and drinks in cans.

"For myself and Katia I have roast beef and cheese. For Ria… how does peanut butter and jelly sound?"

"Delicious," she told him, and was surprised to discover it to be true. She had never had much taste for peanut butter before becoming pregnant, but it would not be the most bizarre food she had found herself craving. Once she had become absolutely ravenous over sushi. It was meat! She could not even eat it!

The sandwiches were passed around, the caned drinks (they turned out to be lemonade) were handed out, and they settled down to an early breakfast.

This is heaven, she thought, ravenously devouring her sandwich. Or, as close to it as I will find here. Once the sandwich was gone, she licked traces of peanut butter off her fingers. Neither Norman nor Katia seemed to notice or care about her horrible manners. This is…

A second twinge in her lower abdomen drove the thought from her head, along with the feeling of peaceful contentment she had been experiencing. "No," she moaned, clutching her stomach and already starting to feel nauseous. She was going to regret having eaten. "Not now… this is not fair…"

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Norman asked. She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and smiled a bitter smile.

"No. The baby is coming."

"What? Now?" he gasped.

"We have to get you to a hospital!" Katia quickly added.

"No hospitals!" Ria shouted, drawing stares from the few people in the rail station at this hour. "No hospitals," she repeated at a more reasonable volume. "I cannot afford to go to a hospital."

"If it's a question of money, we'd be more than happy to…"

"It is not a question of money, it is a question of safety," Ria sighed. "If I go to a hospital, the baby will be seized either by Team Rocket or by the very people helping with the birth for medical study. No hospitals."

"No hospitals," Katia agreed, caving in under Ria's insistence.

"But Katia…"

"No hospitals, Norman," she told him as if issuing a command, her blue eyes going icy.

"…fine, fine, you have me convinced. No hospitals." Just then, as if the universe itself had decided to take a hand in mocking them, several uniformed policemen swept through in the direction of the rail car and they all started in surprise. They had forgotten about the Rockets they'd left there. "And it seems that time is at a premium. Very well. An old friend of mine set up a medical practice in Saffron a couple years back, and I still have his number. We'll have him help us privately. Would that be okay?" he asked as he ushered the two ladies to the door.

"It will have to be okay," she replied while bracing herself as best she could against another contraction. She didn't know when exactly it would come, but it would be soon. And it would be followed by another, and another, until…

Don't think about it. Think about baby names. You still don't have a name yet, and you're running out of time…

For the second time that day, Ria began to cry.

(An Ecruteak Mansion. What the road to Hell is paved with, and the people who give you the cement…)

Slender, almost skeletal fingers drummed a frenetic cadence on the banister as dark blue eyes glared so fixedly ahead it almost seemed, to the casual observer, that there should be a smoking molten hole in the window he was staring through. The sun was just beginning to break out from behind the trees and the sky was a truly beautiful thing to behold, but it was doubtful that the man noticed.

"Mr. Verandi?" came the hesitant inquiry. Ever since he'd forced his personal doctor into an early retirement over the… accident with Alucard, his medical assistants had been more than hesitant around him, especially when it came to this particular issue. Terrified might be a better adjective. Or, if one insisted on being basely crude, scared shitless.

"Well?"

"The child is female, and she's perfectly normal and healthy, sir. She'll be a beautiful girl, worthy of the Verandi name," gushed one of the doctors. The man allowed himself a brief flicker of disappointment, he had really been hoping for a boy, a boy to replace the heir that the… accident had ruined. But a girl, properly raise, might make an even better heir than a boy. Women all had a primal vicious streak buried within their nurturing natures, and with proper coaching that vicious streak could easily be brought to the surface. His wife, Deidre, was certainly living proof of that.

"Very good, now take me to her," he replied, and the medical staff almost seemed to melt with relief, all but tripping over themselves in their haste to comply with his wishes. The horror stories filtering thought the hired help about what Deidre had done to the people who had been responsible for Alucard's 'accident' still seemed to have a grip on the hearts and minds of those who worked for him. All the better for them, really. She had been notoriously violent as an assassin, and going through the experimental procedure had only worsened that facet of her personality. In addition to that, Alucard's condition had somewhat unbalanced her mind, turning the possibility of her killing anyone who threatened her child – be it out of true intent, incompetence, or simple ignorance – into the closest thing to a certainty he had ever encountered. Also, Deidre's chances of having another child were so low it wasn't even worth the time to calculate them. She would probably be a bit more than overprotective of this new girl.

Finally, they reached the birthing room. Deidre's blood red hair clung to her skin, matted with sweat from the effort of giving birth. Her dark red eyes were half closed in contentment as a small newborn fed eagerly at her breast. All that he could see of his new daughter from this angle was a fuzz of dark, maybe black hair. He allowed himself a brief moment of nostalgia. His mother had had black hair like that. "Have you chosen a name for the child, dearest, or shall I?"

"Lisha," she panted with a beatific grin. "Her name will be Lisha Delilah Verandi."

Lisha. The darkness before midnight. A perfect name for a Verandi.

"A beautiful name, suiting of our heir," he said, leaning over to kiss her brow. As he did, his daughter looked up from her feeding with beautiful silvery gray eyes, the same color as his own, and he fancied that she smiled at him. He once more allowed himself a brief moment of affection as he stroked the top of her head and smiled. She was indeed a beautiful child…

"Mother? Father? Is it alright for me to come in now?" six year old Alucard asked hesitantly from behind the door to the birthing room.

"It is alright, dearest, the blood has been cleaned up now. You may enter," his wife assured their son. The door creaked open, and the child slipped into the room so cautiously that he seemed frightened that his presence might break something.

Alucard was pale and slender, with his father's dark violet hair and his mother's red eyes. Something about the dimensions of his features lent an air of innocence to his face that would serve him well if it held into later years. All he needed to do was lose that hesitance, as if he could break the most precious of things by simply breathing on them, and he would be a fine support to his sister. But Ricardo couldn't seem to bring himself to lecture the boy tonight. Tomorrow would be more than time enough. "Your sister has been born healthy. Her name is Lisha Delilah."

A smile blossomed across little Alucard's face. "That is good." He took a few more hesitating steps over to the bed. "May I… touch her?" he asked.

Ricardo looked over to Deidre, who nodded firmly, and beckoned her son over. Little Lisha looked up at her brother with those solemn gray eyes of hers, and he reached out a hand. She held up her own and weakly seized a finger. It was almost as if the siblings were making a pact to guard and protect one another.

"Alucard, it is your duty as her brother to watch over her," Deidre said somberly.

"I swear I will," he replied earnestly. And perhaps Ricardo's imagination was playing tricks on him once more, but he could swear little Lisha was smiling.

(On the outskirts of Saffron city, kiss the sunset goodbye.)

The sun was beginning to sink behind the trees of Tristan's remote cottage outside the city, and Ria's birthing screams sounded like one continuous wail to him. Surely the baby would be coming any moment now. He couldn't stand that sound much longer. He had known that childbirthing was painful, but this… and Katia had wanted a baby, had wanted to all but sign herself up for this…! Women are crazy, he decided. Katia was still in there holding Ria's hand and murmuring comforting words, and he didn't know how she could stand it. All that screaming, all the blood…

The blood wouldn't normally have bothered him. He was a Trainer, and when pokemon battled they got hurt. It was a fact of life. But one and all, injured pokemon bled the same color that humans did. Not Ria Anasera, though. Her blood was a bizarre pearly white, like spilled cream. The color turned his stomach as normal blood never had, and the poor woman didn't need to see the disgust that he could not hide. It was there, to his shame, and he could not hide it.

"Ret," his Furret stated flatly, butting its bandaged head against his leg, as if it had picked up on his melancholy mood and was telling him to get over himself. He'd treated it for the injures it had taken battling Team Rocket. It seemed fine, but it had gotten sludge in most of its injuries from that damn Wheezing and the Serviper's bite could be nasty. He just hoped that the Antidote he'd lathered on its injuries would be enough to keep them from getting infected until he could get it to a Pokemon Center…

One final, piercing wail, and then a silence that seemed to echo ominously in the fading light.

"Is it over?" he asked the Furret, but the creature could only shrug its thin shoulders in reply. As if to answer his question, a thin, reedy wail replaced Ria's screaming

"It's a girl," Tristan pronounced. "And as far as I can tell with no equipment, born healthy." Norman rushed back into the room to see a small bundle wrapped in blankets being held up to a sweat soaked and spectrally white Ria.

"Do you… have a name?" Katia asked hesitantly. Norman could see why. It was obvious, despite his friend's best efforts, that Ria was dying.

"Her true name will be Riandriel Sharein, as mine is Diahandria Kosel among my people," Ria murmured like a woman talking in her sleep as she held up her child to nurse for the first and last time. "The name she will bear in this world will be Terra, for she was born of earth and will return to earth when she dies, as humans do" Her arms seemed to glow briefly for a moment as two tears slid down her cheeks and struck the face of the nursing child. The tears, when they hit, evaporated to steam with a brief hiss, and when they were gone the glowing died. "For the future of this, my only child, I see darkness, strife, and chaos, although I cannot warn of more than that. It lies beyond the Meran Sea, far to the west, where my eyes cannot see. I can only pray for her safety…." She trailed off, raising her head with some effort to look Katia in the eye. "Will you care for my child as you would your own?"

"Of course," Katia said.

"Then the moment I breathe my last, she is yours to keep," Ria said, and there was a brief but brilliant flare of power that left Ria coughing and gasping for air. The child at her breast continued to nurse, unconcerned.

"Save your strength! Don't talk anymore!" Katia pleaded.

"There is nothing left… to save it for…" Ria panted. She raised her head further to look Norman in the face. "You must burn my body once I am dead. It is the way of my people."

"It will also make your death all but impossible to confirm," Norman added in understanding.

"And it will keep them… from cutting me to pieces to see how I work," she gasped in agreement before collapsing against the pillows. Her breath came in rapid, shallow gasps.

"We can still… if we took her to a hospital, I'm sure we could do something for her," Tristan protested, distraught. Norman had applied a fair amount of verbal arm twisting to get him to agree to this, when it wasn't even the type of medicine he practiced.

"What would you do, give her a blood transfusion? How much good would that do someone like her?" Norman asked softly. Ria's breathing was starting to slow, but it wasn't getting any deeper. That was bad. He had no knowledge of medicine, but even he could tell that that was bad.

"I…I… we could do something!" he pleaded, trying to deny what he was seeing.

Little Riandriel – Terra – stopped suckling, and Katia readjusted her so that Ria was merely holding her. As she did, both men caught a glimpse of the child's eyes…

Blue. The exact same shade of blue as Katia's own eyes.

"When I delivered that baby, her eyes were golden," Tristan said breathily as if he might faint.

"I believe you," Norman replied. And he could easily understand why Team Rocket had been pursuing Ria so insistently. The woman had held power, once. And Team Rocket craved that type of incomprehensible power.

Ria's breathing slowed to nothing, and she exhaled all her breath in a breathy hiss. Her chest did not rise again. Tristan moved over to check her pulse with an expression on his face that said, plainly, that he did not expect to find one.

The sun set.

Little Terra's baby blue eyes snapped open and she began to wail, heart-wrenching sobs that seemed to cut through the soul.

Finally! Finished the prologue edit! (faints)(cries over killing off Ria)(faints again)

I wonder if anyone out there has the patience to read a Pokemon fic this long…

If the Pokeworld currency works like Japanese yen, and has the same conversion rate to dollars (Which I think it does, that would put the water from the vending machines at about a buck seventy five, which I think is reasonable for water from a large city), then three thousand is only a little over twenty-five dollars.

Yeah, trainers make chump change. The only money in pokemon training is in tournaments, or in becoming a really famous trainer, breeding your pokemon off and selling off their offspring. Can you blame Quartz for turning thief?

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, it is custom in Ria's culture to give your child both their individual name, and the name of a family member or someone who aided the mother during her pregnancy. It is a very high honor in that culture.

The edit turned the prologue into a true monster justified in being split in half. But I don't regret it. Now I have something that resembles a plotline. That makes me happy.

After all the effort I put into this, maybe someone will review it? (looks naively hopeful)