Violet City

Marlena was to watch the entrance to Sprout Tower and to neutralize any Rockets that might show up. However, something caught the attention of the blonde. Heading up the steps leading to the monastery were two people and a pokemon. She moved closer to them, careful not to be seen by the two in case they were Rockets in disguise.

"Hey Piers, what should I call the Poliwag I caught?" asked the one with the yellow hat.

The long haired one, Piers, responded with, "I don't know. Perhaps Drizzle."

"That's as good a name as any. Drizzle it is," replied the first one.

The pokemon, a Flareon, lifted it's head and began to sniff the air. Marlena froze. The fire type continued following "Piers" and the yellow hatted guy.

Am I one lucky gal, thought Marlena. Why does the name "Piers" sound familiar? And what's taking Silver so long? He should've made the objective by now.

At that moment she heard a twig snap behind her. She turned around, ready for anything, just to see that it was her red headed partner, Silver.

"We're good to go. Our next orders are to go to Azalea. It's rumored that a Rocket Executive is there, and we need to check it out," the man told her.

Inside Sprout Tower

"Did you notice the chick in the trees, Gold? That was a little odd," said Piers as they walked up the stairs to the second floor of the monastery.

"Huh? No, I didn't. I was busy trying to think up a name for Drizzle," answered Gold. "Maybe she was scared of you. You are like 6'3 and look intimidating."

"Dude, she was looking at us through binoculars. She probably wasn't just someone who was shy."

"Whatever. Just forget it. Lets just get to the top of this place."

That's easy for you to say, my friend. She matches the description that the Prof gave me for one of the pokemon thieves. I can't just forget about her. Piers thought.

The two colleagues progressed through the tower defeating each monk. Nuke evolved and learned Flame Wheel. Afterwards they decided to challenge Falkner. Kara swept the leader's pokemon with ease, as did Nuke afterwards. By the time that everything was all said and done, it was nearing 8:00pm.

"Hey, Gold, lets go get some dinner. I know an Italian restaurant that's still open for another hour," said Piers, already heading in the direction of the restaurant.

Gold followed, catching up to his long haired friend. "Sounds like a plan. I could eat a whole Snorlax right now."

The two turned the corner and entered Mario Luigi's Italian Eatery. Piers ordered the tortellini for himself and some Italian sausage for Kara. Gold ordered lasagna and a mix of Rawst and Oran berries for his pokemon and himself.

Piers' PokéGear began to ring. It was Professor Elm. "Gold, I'll be back in a moment. I have to take this." Piers went into the restroom of the restaurant and answered the phone.

"Hello, Piers? I got word on what that Pokemon you described. It resembles a pokemon native to the Hoenn region known as Gardevoir."

Piers was ecstatic. "Thank you so much Prof. Thank you for every-"

There was a sound of crashing and breaking glass through the phone.

"I have to go now Piers. Don't worry, everything is fine. I just knocked something over." The professor sounded calm, a scary calm.

Seeing through the obvious lie, but not wanting to make things worse, Piers simply said, "Okay. I'll talk to you later," and hung up the phone.

Exiting the restroom and heading back to their table, Piers saw that their food had already arrived. Gold and the three pokemon were already digging in when he sat down to join them. Despite his worry, Piers managed to appear cheerful and wolf down his tortellini.

Later, at the Pokemon Center, the two friends were talking in the lobby, waiting to talk to the receptionist about getting rooms. "I think that we should go see the Prof," Piers was saying. "You know, to show off our first badges."

"If you want to, but we won't head back that way until tomorrow. It's already past dark and I'm tired," came the response of the Quilava holding trainer.

"Of course." I sure hope the Prof is alright. Whatever that was didn't sound pleasant.

That night, he had the dream again. A Gardevoir, razed buildings, extreme weather, and that message again. Find the others. End Chaos.

The next evening, New Bark Town

For the third time in as many days, Piers and Gold finished the trek between Violet City and New Bark Town. The sight that they saw was not a happy one as they soon found out. Professor Elm was dead. His corpse bloated and purple, it was determined that he was killed by a potent mix of various poisons, pointing to a poison pokemon of some sort having attacked him. The only other clue to his death was a patch of fabric, a shirt pocket, with a red "R" on it.

Try as he might, Gold could not hold back the tears that came at witnessing the professor.

"I think I'm going to go home for a few days. Then perhaps I'll continue my journey," Gold said to his companion.

"I think I'll do the same. Besides, someone needs to tell Mom and Little Sister," replied the long haired trainer. "Well, I guess I'll catch you later. Remember, I'm always just a phone call away if you need me."

With that, Piers began to walk back towards Cherrygrove to catch a bus to Goldenrod, his Flareon sleeping on the bag at his side.

Later that night

Gold looked at the clock on his wall. 3:27am.

Now is the perfect time to leave. Everyone is asleep. I saw the scrap of cloth with the "R" on it. I know that is the logo for Team Rocket. They will pay! And Piers, don't think I didn't realize how odd it was that you wanted to see the professor and then he turns up dead. I'll find out what part you play in this, too.

He got out of bed, traded his signature hat for a plain black one, and disappeared into the night.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews would be nice.