Gary's fingers raked through his hair agitatedly, his eyebrows furrowed in frustrated concentration. He wasn't used to coping with not automatically having at least some answers for every problem swept his way.

"So let me get this straight. Two weeks ago you returned to Cerulean from the Unova gym leader elections so your sisters could go on holiday again, and while you were gone Brock had sent you a PokeMail asking—"

"—If I'd heard anything from Ash the past month, yes," Misty repeated. "He said he'd rung the gym earlier that week but obviously I was away and he didn't want to share anything potentially suspicious with my sisters. I know we're technically not allowed to communicate with outsiders during the elections conference as an anti-corruption measure but I'd have at least found some way to check my gym mail if my stupid sisters had even bothered to remember passing on the message he'd called! Obviously I didn't have a clue about his message until I got back to the gym..."

"Right. So Brock was asking after Ash because he already suspected something was wrong as well?"

"Yeah, he didn't go into details but apparently a few days before the call Ash had rung him up out of the blue from Johto, gushing about some 'awesome opportunity' that had cropped up in Kanto and saying he was on his way home. He was calling to say he'd arrange a reunion dinner or something as soon as he got back in the region to tell us. Brock didn't mention it to me until the letter, I guess he assumed Ash had rung me after to share the same news, but he'd probably just assumed it was easier to have Brock pass the message on..."

Gary didn't miss the tone of bitterness in her voice. "Tch, you know boys. I think it was my sister's copy of Jynxopolitan that said we're almost genetically programmed to be useless with phone communication," he winked.

Misty gave a small snort but quickly resumed seriousness. "Glad you're aware of it. Anyway, Brock was writing because it had been nearly two weeks since the call and he hadn't heard anything, so he just thought Ash had rung me instead. He didn't sound too worried since Ash hadn't given any specific dates or anything, but he was leaving for Valencia Island to start his research fellowship with Professor Ivy the next day so wouldn't be able to make it, but just asked me to keep an eye out for any news as Ash would obviously get in touch with me if Brock was unreachable. But by the time I got Brock's message it had been almost six weeks since Ash's initial call—and neither of us had heard anything!"

"Okay fair, so then you went to the police...?"

"No. I rang round anyone I could think of obviously, but I only had our Kanto and Johto contacts to go on so it wasn't like I had conclusive proof something was really wrong and he hadn't just been held up somewhere in Sinnoh for good reason. I didn't want to get his mum really worried when I didn't have much to go on but a gut feeling something bad had happened. Well least until tonight..."

"You didn't get in touch with me though, surely I count as one of your possible Kanto-Johto contacts! How do you know I wouldn't know anything?" Gary demanded. "I don't, sorry to say," he said quickly, seeing Misty's eyes widen. "I'm sure Gramps would've let me know if the little fella was back in town, any excuse to get into Delia's good books that love-sick old sod..." he snorted. "Anyway point being, if you're determined to go after this masked gang yourself and become Ashy boy's knight in shining scarlet armour, you can't afford to be careless and just rule out any possibilities that don't tickle your fancy."

Misty blinked in surprise, and Gary felt a familiar surge of unadulterated confidence he had once normally reserved for Pokemon battles creeping up his chest as he realised he was finally beginning to fit the pieces together.

"For instance, before trying to fruitlessly speculate on where Ash might be right now, we should consider what information we do have. This city is a big connecting clue. Everything that's happened tonight, here in Goldenrod, did so for a reason, and I'll wager that reason—is you."

"Me ?"

"Yes. Now it could be coincidence that you happened to be in Goldenrod on the same night these masked men were plotting their scheme and you simply happened to get in the way. But barely hours after you show up the same men who were chasing you blow up the Pokemon Center and leave behind that Pikachu—whose significance would register only on those who knew Ash personally. You don't even live in Johto Scarlet, and for them to have concentrated their attack here they would've had to know their target had a specific reason for coming here, on a particular night, to make sure their message got across to the right target. Now the obvious answer is the Elite Four party, to which all Gym Leaders are automatically invited and rarely miss, with you as the notable exception, yet last night they got lucky. Why?"

"My sisters were on holiday, remember?" Misty rolled her eyes. "Honestly, being forced to leave the Gym unattended for a stupid party..."

"I've had the pleasure of getting to know your sisters intimately on the League party circuit Scarlet, especially that blonde ditzy one who just can't accept the hidden message of the 'it's not you, it's me' line..."

"You're the reason we had to spend a third of the gym budget on ice cream and vodka on Daisy last December?" Misty shrieked, instinctively raising her arm to slap that stupidly obnoxious grin right off his smug face!

"Shh," Gary raised a finger to his lips with one hand and caught Misty's incoming Fury Swipes attack with the other. "I'm not rescuing you again if those masked men come running back. Anyway look, I'm only mentioning your sisters because I know that regardless of their vital tanning schedules, they would rather break one of their false nails than have Cerulean Gym unrepresented at any big celebrity party, let alone the Elite Four's biggest one of the year. What if they ended up missing the most 'ah-mazingly juicy piece of gossip, like, evah?' They obviously don't match your skills in battling so they have to maintain their Leader privileges through social status instead. Which means," Gary sighed, coolly forcing her twitching fists down. "You had to have volunteered yourself to come to the party so they didn't change their holiday schedules to accommodate it, and I suspect you did that against your greatest wishes because you wanted an excuse to come to Goldenrod City to hunt for clues about Ash's disappearance. Just a hunch, maybe? Or because you knew there was some particularly significant about this place?"

"You know a lot about this whole conspiracy cracking thing," Misty grumbled, finally folding her attacking arms in resignation.

"I know a lot about a lot of things," Gary shrugged.

"You're also incredibly annoying."

"I know a lot about being that too."

You win, Misty thought the words she'd never admit out loud. "Okay. It's just a guess, but I think Goldenrod City might've been the last place Ash was...you know, seen."

Gary raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

Misty bit her lip, fidgeting with her bangs agitatedly. "Do you remember the Magnet Train incident?"

Gary thought back. "The Magnet Train...oh yeah…it was on the news a few weeks ago wasn't it? 'Kanto-Johto link Magnet Train experiences sudden power surge over Tohjo Falls.' Service was resumed within an hour though and they didn't record any casualties...what were you thinking?"

"Brock said Ash had called him from Johto, and he was obviously really eager to come home and relay his exciting news. What's the quickest way to Kanto from there? The Magnet Train. And if you recall, it departs from only one place in Johto—"

"Goldenrod City," Gary breathed. "Good shout there, Waterflower, you're not too shabby at this thinking business after all. So you think Ash was on that train during the powercut?"

"Yeah, 'powercut'," Misty scoffed, putting the word in inverted commas with her fingers and choosing to ignore his jibe. "The news called it a mysterious, one-off incident caused by disruptions from wild Magneton in the area. No casualties, so nothing odd to note—except of course the fact nothing like this has ever happened before or since."

"Hmm but no casualties, so their only real plan must have been plain sabotage, to use the powercut as a smokescreen to kidnap...Ash?" Gary frowned. "But they got what they wanted. If they wanted you as well it would've been far easier to ambush you when you were travelling on your own or back in the gym. Why wait until Goldenrod? Unless they were trying to use him as to get some sort of ransom from you? But why go to all the lengths of bringing Pikachu here? A direct message would've been far more effective..."

Technically he was addressing her, but Misty may as well have taken her top off and started doing cartwheels up the walls—Gary was so absorbed in his self-speculating of potential answers she was sure he'd hardly notice anything out of the blue. Such as the fact it was meant to be her job to be Ash's rescuer. The emotional sting she'd felt when recalling Ash's call to Brock, and Brock only, was resurfacing again. Gary may have known Ash the longest but she had been his first friend on his Pokemon quest, met him almost the same time as he'd Pikachu. Why did it seem like everyone else was more capable of helping him when he was in trouble?

"Abducting Ash...and then targeting Misty in the same city...why on earth...OH!" Gary cried out suddenly, making Misty jolt with surprise.

"What? What is it?"

"When Ash called to say he was leaving, d'you know if he was on his cellphone, or what?"

"Um…I don't know... Brock mentioned he seemed well but that could easily have just been about his voice…" Misty replied, looking confused. "To be honest I'm not sure if he ever even had a cellphone, he didn't when we were together and Sinnoh's meant to be a lot mountainous isn't it? Not the most reliable for phone signals. Maybe he simply never bothered getting one, he always just rang me on the gym videophone—"

"Videophone!" Gary almost shouted. "Yes that's it!Think about it Scarlet, Ash was in Goldenrod to catch the train, and before boarding he calls Brock on a phone, but he doesn't have a mobile. What if we take Brock's observation as literal, and assume Ash rang by videophone? Because nowadays the only real public place with videophones is—"

"— the Pokemon Center," Misty finished breathlessly. "The last place Ash was seen before the disappearance was in the Goldenrod Pokemon Center!"

And I was travelling at the time he called Brock, so there would've been no way he could've rung me, even if he really, truly, desperately wanted to! Misty thought triumphantly.

"Yes, the Goldenrod Pokemon Center," Gary said softly. "Which, courtesy to our charming friends has conveniently just been blown to bits."

Well that was a short victory, Misty clenched her fists in frustration."There had to be something there. A clue; some evidence; something. They knew it and destroyed it all."

"Any physical evidence, yes," Gary murmured slowly. "But not…"

Without warning he leapt up from the ground and stuck a hand out, excitedly gesturing for Misty to take it and help herself up.

"Come on!" he said impatiently.

"What? What are you...hey!" Misty spluttered as Gary decided five seconds was too long a wait and yanked her up forcefully by the arm anyway. She stumbled to gain her balance, slapping his hand away. "Just tell me what you're thinking instead of signing your own death warrant constantly manhandling me without my permi—yeow!"

"We're going to the hospital," Gary announced, bending down and piggybacking her, completely forgetting the painful memory of his last attempt from the excitement.

"Well I'm glad you're being pre-emptive for your own sake if you keep ignoring me—"

"Misty, those men bombed the Pokemon Center for a reason," Gary almost breathed out, his voice catching up to his brisk walking pace as he began carrying her down the more pleasantly familiar streets into the city centre. "As you said, it had to be because there was something there that gave away Ash's location, or some other huge clue about his disappearance they couldn't risk the authorities finding. Especially someone fuelled by a personal motive and with powerful connections like a Gym Leader—someone like you."

Gary turned the corner a little too sharply in his hurry, and Misty had to quickly wrap her legs around his abdomen to avoid them bashing into a lampost. Had she imagined it or had his muscles noticeably tightened as she did so? In any case, he had to pause to hoist her up and readjust his balance before continuing. "It would be disastrous if you found any way to hinder whatever foul plan they've got up their sleeve, and suddenly you show up in Goldenrod, in the company of some of the most powerful trainers in the entire country!"

"Well they won didn't they?" Misty said bitterly. "I didn't even know where to start looking until you showed up. Any evidence I could've found has been blown to smithereens, and they could easily have removed it without hurting anyone."

"Physical evidence maybe. But what if..." he took a deep breath. "...What if Ash had told someone where he was going? Or someone overheard him telling someone some other crucial information like that? You know, like—a witness?"

"He does have trouble keeping his mouth shut," Misty admitted grudgingly. "But hundreds of people visit the Pokemon Center each day, how are we supposed to find—"

"There's one person who is always in the Pokemon Center, every day of the year!" Gary said, his voice tinged with the impatient excitement of a dam about to burst.

"What are you talking about—Oh!" Misty's eyes grew very wide. "You don't think—you don't mean—"

"Yes," Gary breathed, coming to a halt and turning Misty to face an impressive white building in the shape of a giant Chansey. "Nurse Joy!"