They were on their way to Saffron City – Ash wanted a Marsh Badge – but neither Ash nor Misty were really any good at reading maps or figuring out directions, so they were lost again. Now, if they'd cared to ask Brock or Kagome which route they should take, they wouldn't have that issue, but neither of them had been asked, and Kagome was actually (unlike everybody else) enjoying being lost in the woods. Well, forest.

Why wouldn't she? After all, she'd spotted a Ditto and caught it. (Ditto was the only 'mon that Kagome allowed herself to call an 'it', because a Ditto genuinely was genderless. Crazy stuff.)

Also, there were a lot of Kakuna in the forest, and she'd let Sesshoumaru out to snack on them – a sight which had, actually, disgusted all of her travelling companions. Even Misty, who hated bugs with a passion, didn't enjoy seeing them get eaten.

Eventually, they were kinda-sorta led out of the forest by a little girl who made Kagome's skin crawl. Ash chased after her, and considering how much mist was in the forest, that was really a dumb thing to do. Point proven when he fell off a cliff and was barely saved by his hastily-called-upon Bulbasaur. The view from the cliff was rather spectacular, and better for the friends who were actually keen to get out of the forest, the view was of Saffron City.

"By the way Ash," Kagome said as they headed for the city. "You scream like a girl."

"I do not!" Ash objected.

"Congratulations winners!" two voices greeted when, not ten minutes later, they entered the city gates.

Kagome raised an eyebrow as two women lay a lei around Ash's neck and kissed his cheeks. Now, where had she heard those voices before?

"Why should we win something for just walking into town?" Ash asked.

"There's a simple explanation," the woman with dark hair answered – after giggling a moment.

"You're the millionth, millionth-and-first, millionth-and-second, millionth-and-third and millionth-and-fourth visitors to Saffron City," the orange-haired woman explained.

Kagome snapped her fingers as the pair did a little hula dance, singing "Saffron City, the city you love to visit!"

"You were blonde last time you cross-dressed," Kagome said to James. "But you seem to have a thing for the orange when you're in disguise," she added to Jesse. "And fake tans."

The pair jerked.

"What are you talking about?" Jesse asked.

Kagome shook her head. "He," she said, pointing to James, "giggled in the exact same way when they were giving us the tickets for the Saint Anne. Really though, I must congratulate you on the excellent costumes. I probably wouldn't have picked it, if James hadn't giggled."

"How did you see through our disguises?" James demanded in his own voice.

"The first time I saw you, you were in disguises. The second time? You were in uniform. Now you're in disguise again. Also? I can sense the auras of your 'mon," Kagome explained.

"Team Rocket!" Ash growled as he realised what Kagome was saying. "Wait, ew! Gross! They both kissed me! Aah! Blech blech blech!" he exclaimed, and tried to wipe the kisses off his face, as though that worked.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jesse growled as she flung off her disguise.

"Make it double!" James agreed as he discarded his own.

Kagome spared a moment to wonder how they wore their uniforms under costumes that showed off more skin than the uniforms did, but otherwise just ducked around them. She'd let Ash and the others play out their grudge against Team Rocket. She was going to get her Marsh Badge, and maybe even be done battling the infamous Sabrina before Ash reached the gym to request his own battle.

~oOo~

"Little girl, what are you doing here?" asked a man in a lab-coat and with an allergy mask over his face.

"I've come to face Sabrina," Kagome answered simply.

"You want to challenge the great Sabrina?" the man scoffed.

Kagome nodded. "I did just say that, didn't I?" she countered.

"Do you even know what you are getting into?" the man asked, and raised a spoon.

Kagome bit her lip as she watched him focus on the spoon, turn red, and break out in a sweat before the spoon bent just a tiny bit. Gently, she took the spoon from him, let the bowl hang down, and caressed the metal with her miko powers. She'd been trained to use her spiritual gifts in a certain way and for a certain purpose, but some of the exercises had been the sort that, well... That this guy had been trying to do. And then, because her mother wasn't thrilled about having drawers full of bent cutlery, Kagome had learned how to unbend the silverware as well.

"I think I have some idea," Kagome answered as she returned the spoon.

"As you wish," the man allowed, and guided Kagome through the gym. "Here we are," he said at last, and pushed open a set of double-doors to reveal a room that was decorated like a temple or shrine... yes, a shrine. A shrine to a Buddha specifically. "Oh great Sabrina," the man said as he knelt before the bamboo veil that would conceal where, traditionally, the Buddha would sit. "This stranger has come who wishes to challenge you."

Behind the bamboo veil, a figure was illuminated. Kagome recognised the tiny figure as the little girl who Ash had chased off a cliff in the forest – the one that had set Kagome's skin to tingling.

The little girl's eyes glowed red.

The man tensed, but nodded silently and left.

Kagome stepped up. "He's either got a crush on you, or a serious case of hero-worship," Kagome stated. "Sabrina, I wish to challenge you in an official battle, for the right to carry a Marsh Badge."

"I'd like that," the tiny child said. "But if you lose you have to be my friend and let me play with you!"

Kagome frowned. "I seriously distrust the wording of that condition," she answered, "and even if I didn't, I was not speaking to you."

The bamboo curtain rose and revealed a grown woman sitting on the chair, the little girl – a doll, it was clear to see now – sitting on her lap.

"Well done," Sabrina said. "You are the first to have noticed that without aid. So, you will not agree to the condition for your loss?"

"No," Kagome answered. "I will not. If I fail to attain a Marsh Badge, then I will continue on to the next gym and try my skill there. Your doll's condition set no time limit to its play, and as I said, I distrust the phrasing."

"Very well," Sabrina allowed, eyes narrowing dangerously, and considering the fearsome expression on her face, that was really quite something. She floated out of her chair and down to the arena floor. "One on one, an all out match, agreed?"

Kagome nodded. "Those are conditions that I can accept," she answered.

"Come out Abra," Sabrina summoned, and her doll released its hold of the pokeball, which floated up and forward before releasing the 'mon into the arena.

Kagome hummed a moment as she thought about her options, and finally released Shippo.

"I've never seen a 'mon like that before," Sabrina noted in a soft monotone.

"Shippo is a fox-ghost 'mon," Kagome elucidated with a smile. "Shippo, would you be a dear and plant your mushrooms around the room?" she requested.

"Shippo hap-po-pi to!" Shippo answered with a smile and dashed around, leaving large mushrooms swaying behind him.

Mushrooms that released a poisonous powder.

"Shi Shippo do pow?" Shippo asked once he'd surrounded the arena with his mushrooms, himself floating above the poisonous powder that they were releasing all around Abra.

Kagome smiled and snapped her fingers.

Shippo smiled back and did the same. Only, when Shippo snapped his little claws, all the poison powder lit on fire.

Abra woke up then and cried out in pain. Abras, as a rule, only knew how to teleport. They didn't perform physical attacks because they slept for eighteen hours a day, and they were incapable of learning more advanced psychic attacks until they evolved. Kagome, of course, didn't accept that for her Abra, and had the little guy being very capable of physical attacks until the day he would be able to learn the more advanced psychic attacks.

Sabrina hadn't worried about that for her Abra though it seemed, as surprise overcame her features. It was possible she was used to Abra simply teleporting out of the way of attacks until the opponents were completely worn down and unable to move, let alone fight.

"Shippo!" Kagome called, and waved her 'mon over.

The fox-ghost floated above the flames to her on his little pink bubble.

"See if you can make her laugh?" Kagome suggested in a whisper.

"Shi!" Shippo agreed with a grin and zoomed back over to Sabrina. He pulled a face, hung upside-down from his pink bubble, and even had it explode in both of their faces before quickly re-forming a new one for him to float on.

That last trick seemed to do the job, as Sabrina burst out laughing. Even on fire, Abra – psychically linked to Sabrina – started laughing and rolling around on the floor as well.

The fire died down once all the poison powder and the mushrooms had been burned away, and Sabrina caught her breath by then.

Kagome was awarded the Marsh Badge as she recalled Shippo, but was sad to see that Sabrina was frowning again. Maybe the woman needed a comedian ghost-type 'mon of her own. Oh well, not her problem.

Next stop for her was Lavender Town. It was the decidedly scenic route, but that was where she was headed all the same.

"Kagome!" Misty called, waving.

"Hey, you've already been in?" Ash asked.

Kagome nodded. "Yep," she answered. "And a bit of advice before you go in," she added. "Sabrina uses psychic 'mon. I don't know how close her Abra is to evolving into a Kadabra, but when he does, she'll be really hard to beat."

Ash frowned. "But I've got to have a Marsh Badge!" he insisted.

Kagome shrugged. "Ghost-type 'mon are strong against psychic-types," she offered.

"Ghost-types? You mean like that Gastly we saw back at Maiden's Peak?" Ash asked.

Kagome nodded. "Yup," she agreed. "Well, you can try your luck with the 'mon you have if you like, but I've warned you. I'm going to stay the night at the 'Mon Centre, but I'm off to Lavender Town in the morning."

"We'll see you at the 'Mon Centre later," Ash promised.

"Yeah, wouldn't want you to leave without us," Brock agreed.

Kagome nodded in acceptance and waved to them as she left for the 'Mon Centre... and maybe to do some late-night shopping along the way.

~oOo~

"Kagome?" Misty said as they walked together to Lavender Town. Ash had been soundly beaten by Sabrina when her 'mon evolved during their battle, and the group had been psychically shrunk and set in Sabrina's toy-box, barely escaping before being squished by a ball – they'd told Kagome the story when she'd asked if Ash had gotten his badge.

Kagome had known to distrust the phrasing of that 'little girl'.

"What's on your mind?" Kagome asked.

"Um, Charmander, actually," Misty admitted, holding up the pokeball that held her only non-water-type 'mon. "See, we had a talk a while ago, about how I wasn't really the best trainer he could have. Water-type 'mon are my speciality you know. I haven't really got a clue on how to raise a fire-type," Misty explained.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, but learning is what being a trainer is all about, isn't it?" she asked.

Misty shrugged. "I guess, but Charmander and I agreed that if he ever wanted to have a trainer who would actually know better how to make him stronger, I'd give him up to you, no hard feelings," she said, clearly uncomfortable with the subject.

"I remember. That was back when we'd all just gotten free of the sunken Saint Anne," Kagome said with a nod.

"Well, I talked to Charmander again last night, after the whole fiasco with Sabrina," Misty continued, and bit her lip.

Kagome lay a gentle hand on Misty's shoulder. "Am I getting a new 'mon today?" she asked softly.

Misty nodded silently.

Kagome solemnly accepted the ball from Misty. "I'll take good care of him," she promised.

"I know you will," Misty agreed.

"Hey girls, we're here!" Brock called from up ahead. This time, he had been the one in charge of the map and navigation, so it hadn't taken them very long at all to reach their target.

"Alright, let's go to 'Mon Tower and catch some ghost-type 'mon!" Ash said with determination.

Kagome shook her head. "You guys go ahead," she deferred.

Ash frowned. "What's the matter? You're not scared are you?" he teased.

Kagome snorted. "As if," she answered with a shake of her head. "But I came here for a reason apart from going to 'Mon Tower. Look I shouldn't be more than an hour, tops, so I'll catch up with you if you like."

"Yeah sure, you're just chickening out. I'll have caught a ghost-type 'mon by then!" Ash bragged.

Kagome chuckled. "Yeah, sure, right. You do know that ghost-type 'mon are easier to catch during the day right? It's clearly late. Better off coming back in the morning after you've rested."

"That's a good point actually," Brock agreed. "We've been walking all day as it is. It wouldn't hurt for us to get some shut-eye before heading into 'Mon Tower."

"Yeah, and maybe it won't be so creepy in the day either," Misty joined in.

"To the 'Mon Centre then," Ash said with a sigh, defeated. "I'd just... really wanted to capture a ghost-type 'mon tonight."

Kagome still took a different road to them on the way to the 'Mon Centre. There really was something else she wanted to do while she was in Lavender Town. Something that she was sure, if Ash knew about it, he'd want to do as well. She wanted to visit the local 'mon gym.

It was run by an old woman called Urasue, and she specialised in ghost- and earth-type 'mon, as Kagome found out when she knocked on the gym door and requested a battle to earn a Grave Badge.

Urasue opened with a Cubone, Kagome countered with Eevee.

Cubone threw his bonemerang, which Eevee barely dodged. Though, her dodge did land her on top of Cubone's head, and with a sharp twist, Eevee had turned Cubone's skull-helmet around so that he couldn't see. She leapt clean out of the way as the bonemerang came back – and struck Cubone's skull-helmet again, twisting it back the right way around.

The poor Cubone though, he couldn't handle any more, and Urasue was forced to recall the little guy as he burst into tears.

She sent out a Shinidamachu instead. This 'mon, with it's long body, bright red eyes, and the insect-like legs near the head, was a bug/ghost-type 'mon.

"This 'mon is said to collect the souls of the departed, bringing them to their trainer to make them more powerful," 'dex said when Kagome checked with the little device. "These are, however, only myths and cannot be substantiated."

Urasue cackled when she heard that, the old woman. "Oh, they're true," she said with wicked glee. "If they weren't, I'd have died of old age alone more than sixty years ago! Have a guess child, how old do you think this old woman is?"

"A hundred and sixty?" Kagome hazarded as she recalled Eevee and sent out Sesshoumaru instead. She pointed to the Shinidamachu and gave one command. "End it."

Sesshoumaru was more than glad interpret that command to his pleasure, and bite the ghost-bug's head off. He chewed for a moment, then spat it out. It would seem that the Shinidamachu was not to Sesshoumaru's taste.

Except that he immediately went for the body.

Kagome looked to the discarded head. Only bones was left. "Oh," she said softly as she realised Sesshoumaru had somehow gotten whatever meat off the head that he could, and then simply spat out the bones.

"No! My Shinidamachu!" Urasue wailed. "You brat! I'm too old to go out and catch another Shinidamachu myself!"

"Perhaps it's time you found a successor to your gym then," she suggested a little darkly. Urasue's aura rubbed her the wrong way, and she couldn't quite help her reaction to the old witch. "You admitted already that you should have died sixty years ago."

Urasue grit her teeth and frowned, but all the same she recognised that she – a gym leader recognised by the League – had been defeated. With bad grace, she threw the Grave Badge at Kagome.

Kagome caught it silently. She hadn't really intended to be so brutal in her fight against the old woman, but there was just something about the old lady stealing souls to maintain her own life that set Kagome's teeth on edge. Those were souls that wouldn't get to pass on to the afterlife, wouldn't get to find rest. Kagome's priestess training rebelled against such a thing.

Silently, Kagome recalled Sesshoumaru and left the Lavender City Gym behind.

~oOo~

While Ash, Brock and Misty all wanted to stick together as they searched the tower for ghost-type 'mon, Kagome was more than willing to go off on her own. For one thing, she wasn't all that worried about whether or not she caught a ghost-type 'mon. She had one already after all, her cute little Shippo! No, she was looking for a Cubone like Urasue had used. It had been a cute little 'mon, and while Kagome tried very hard to not go after 'mon because they were cute... well, they were tough too!

Cubone, according to the 'dex, were 'lonely' 'mon. It claimed that they were so called because they didn't care about anybody but themselves, but Kagome was more than willing to test that, and found a quiet, promising-looking part of the Tower where she sat down. Once she was comfortable, Kagome spread out her aura and started to sing, just softly, a song that her mother sometimes sang when she was doing little chores around the house and missing Kagome's father. When she thought no one was looking or near enough to hear.

"All around my hat, I will wear the green willow, and all around my hat, for a twelve-month and a day, and if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm wearing it: it's all for my true love, who's far, far away," Kagome sang softly, extending her aura out in waves of comfort.

She repeated the song, sometimes just humming the tune between singing it through again, since it wasn't very long, until a small, clawed hand gently touched her knee. Kagome opened her eyes – having closed them to help concentrate on spreading out her aura – to see a small crowd of Cubones and Marowaks had come to listen to her song.

And it was a Cubone who had tapped her on the leg.

"Hey," Kagome greeted the little guy. "Do you want to maybe come with me?" she asked.

"Cu-u bone bone," Cubone answered with a nod.

Kagome smiled and offered a pokeball.

"Wak wak marowak," said a Marowak once the Cubone had disappeared into the pokeball, and bowed to Kagome.

Behind the Marowak, all the other Cubone and Marowak bowed too.

"You're welcome," Kagome answered. "It's a special song to me, so I'm glad I got to share it with all of you."

"Hey Kagome! Where are you?" Ash called from outside the Tower. "We're gonna leave!"

Kagome shook her head. "I guess that's my cue," she said, and stood. "Goodbye," she bid, and waved.

Each 'mon waved to her as well before scurrying away once she was out of sight.

"Find your ghost-type?" Kagome asked Ash.

"Yep!" Ash answered happily. "I caught me a Gengar!" he proclaimed proudly. "One with a bad sense of humour, but he's mine now," he added with a slightly more crooked smile.

Kagome smiled. "Congratulations. Well, I guess you're all off back to Saffron City?" she asked.

"We are," Brock answered.

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed.

"I wish you the best of luck then," Kagome said. "I'm going to head for Celadon City next."

"What?" Misty asked. "But that's... the other side of Saffron City from here. Why did you even come out this way if you're going back that way?"

Kagome giggled. "You did too," she pointed out. "Ash is going to want to head to Celadon for a badge, but he came out here for a 'mon. Besides, the journey is the destination as much as anything else," Kagome pointed out.

Misty shrugged. "Whatever you say," she allowed, but remained confused.

"At least we'll have your company on the road, right Kagome?" Brock asked hopefully.

Kagome shook her head. "I'm not going to take the road," she answered, "and I'm going to go around Saffron City rather than through it again."

"Well, maybe we'll see you in Celadon City," Ash said.

"Maybe," Kagome agreed with a smile. With a wave, Kagome turned and headed off the road into the wilds. Time for some training away from prying eyes, and... A.J's abandoned gym wasn't too far from Lavender Town. She would go to Celadon City next, but... well, she was going to take a detour first.