Pokémon: 12 Deaths: 0

"Your Nidorino's going to be alright," the nurse told Saylee. "He got a little trampled, but Nidorino have very tough hides and he'll heal up just fine."

"Oh, he's not mine," Saylee said. "We found him after the stampede and brought him here for treatment. He's wild. My Beedrill, though, how about her? Can I see her right now?"

"She'll need a couple of days," the nurse sighed. "She's just coming out of reconstructive surgery on her wing right now. If it's gone well, she'll be out tomorrow evening." He smiled. "It's truly amazing, isn't it, a Pokémon's ability to heal?"

"Thank you so much," Saylee said in relief. "I'm glad she'll be okay. I'll come back tomorrow, can I see her then?"

"Of course," the nurse promised. "Now, I have to go check up on some of my other patients, so if you'll excuse me…" he grabbed a clipboard off of the reception countertop and headed off. Saylee turned and headed across the lobby to the exit. The Goldenrod Pokémon clinic was larger than most, with a whole two floors of intensive care rooms and surgeries. Pokémon had such a capacity to heal that Pokémon clinics tended to be a fraction of the size of human hospitals and staffed predominantly by nurses.

Saylee stepped out of the door and released Chip. "Wendy and the Nidorino are going to be alright," she told him. "We can pick Wendy up tomorrow evening."

"That's brill!" Chip said happily. "So what'll we be doin' 'till then?"

"We'd better go ask Prim if we can stay here tonight," Saylee said. "I feel bad about taking advantage of her hospitality for too long. We'll take a break for tonight, but sometime tomorrow there's someplace I need to check out," she added with a growl.

"Where?" Chip asked, confused by Saylee's dark tone.

{}

"It's just a casino," Saylee sighed in relief, looking over the selection of toys and gadgets available as prizes in the Goldenrod Game Corner.

"'Course it be," Chip said, confused. "The folk outside was sayin', weren't they?"

"Yeah, well…" Saylee peered suspiciously under a couple of posters, ignoring the reproachful looks she was getting from the staff. "Let's get going, then."

"Goin'?" Chip asked, scurrying after her. "Don't you want t'be stayin' an' playin' awhiles?"

"Nah," Saylee said, shaking her head. "Even if it is just a casino, it creeps me out a little."

"Well, what else are we goin' t'be doin'?" Chip asked as they strode down the streets of Goldenrod. "We done our trainin' for today, Wendy an' that Nidorino aren't bein' out 'til t'night…"

"Let's go see how Holly's doing," she said, heading towards the flower shop again. Holly had been overjoyed to find out that they were staying in Goldenrod for a couple of days; she loved playing in the flower shop, and Prim loved her. It was midway through autumn, and her flowers had been ailing without Holly's influence on them.

"Look! Look!" Holly said brightly as they stepped inside, floating over with a bucket of flowers in her grip. "They really like me! I got them to make such pretty colours!"

"I've never seen daisies grow in that colour before," Prim said with a smile, taking the bucket of purple blooms, "but I've never had a Skiploom around before. I've heard that they have a wonderful influence on flowers, but never like this…"

"It seems to be doing you some good, too," Saylee said, reaching out to touch the scars that were still embedded in Holly's side under her huge ears. "These are looking much better."

"I like it here," Holly said happily. She wilted a little. "Oh… but we're leaving tomorrow, aren't we? Once Wendy's all better?"

"We are," Saylee agreed, glancing at Chip, "but you could stay, if you want."

"Really?" Holly couldn't suppress a bright smile. "I'd love to… but… I'd miss you all… and I want to come fight Team Rocket with you, to be strong…"

"Holly, you are strong," Saylee said, scooping Holly out of the air and into her arms. "You don't have to be a fighter. Look at these beautiful flowers!"

"Winter is coming, yet you're keeping them alive," Prim agreed. "That's an amazing power, Holly. If you want to stay here, I'd love to have you. I could really use your help."

"You can decide tomorrow," Saylee told Holly. "But you have nothing to prove to scum like Team Rocket, understand? We think what you can do here is… beautiful."

"An' don't we be matterin' more than them wastes o' air?" Chip asked. Holly nodded, snuggling into Saylee's arms.

"…I'll miss you," she said quiely. Saylee kissed her on the forehead.

"We'll miss you too," she said. "But we're friends. So we'll see you again. When we do, you'll have to show us all the beautiful flowers you've grown!"

{}

"Hold it! Where do you think you're going without me?"

Saylee nearly tripped over the purple shape that ran past her ankles and skidded around to face her on the way out of Goldenrod. "You're that Nidorino, aren't you? Don't you need to go home?"

"It's Nider, and that ain't exactly happenin'," Nider said, tossing his head, "'cause my herd was runnin' from those damn Sudowoodo and they'll be long gone by now, balls if I know where. 'Sides, I hate the alpha. Got his head so far up his own ass his horn's coming out his mouth."

"So… are you sayin' you want t'be comin' with us?" Chip asked in surprise.

"Sure, why not?" Nider said, looking from him to Saylee. "Not like I got a crapload of options, and you guys saved my ass. Plus, heard you tellin' that Beedrill that you're one down, so you've got some free space, am I right?"

"Well, I suppose if you really want to…" Saylee knelt down in front of him. "Nice to meet you, Nider. I'm Lyra and this is Chip. Before you come with us, there's a few things that you have to know…" she glanced up at the sky. "We've got a couple of hours until sunset. Long enough to get to the park and get a campsite. I'll tell you there."

"Dunno if I'm meant to be worried or not by that," Nider said, falling into step behind her.

"D'you mind bein' stickin' your nose into bad guys' business t'be kickin' their arses?" Chip asked.

"I like the kicking ass part," Nider said with a grin.

"Then you'll be lovin' us."

{}

The path to Goldenrod filled up pretty quickly once the Sudowoodo copse was gone, but the road to Ecruteak was less used and mainly travelled by single trainers. They were almost exclusively psychics and students going to study in Ecruteak, which Vera had said was famous for its historical and mythological records. It was also the religious centre of Johto; most of the country's myths and legendary Pokémon originated from or were in some way connected with the area.

Most of the psychics going to Ecruteak were training to raise their powers in the hopes of proving their worth to such legendary Pokémon, so many of them challenged Saylee to battle. Anyone expecting an easy battle against a non-psychic was not counting on Wendy and her twinneedle.

"Word is that the monastery in Ecruteak's calling for new novices," Vera told Saylee over the phone. "Apparently their scriptures have predicted… something coming up soon. I don't know what, they're very secretive about that kind of thing. The monks at Bellsprout Tower think that all of the strange things that Mr Pokémon's talking about, the migrations and epidemics, they're a symptom of something that's been building up since Psychic Ground Zero. Johto recovered from that fine for the most part, but I know I wasn't the only person thinking that was just the opening act of something much bigger."

"That wasn't caused by gods or magic or anything, though," Saylee said softly. "That was people and the creations of people."

"That's not widely known, though. There's enough records and archived reports to tell us that there was war in Kanto, but it's still not really known what ended it and caused Psychic Ground Zero. A lot of people assume that divine intervention was involved."

"It wasn't anything divine. It never is. Just people trying to play god, and Pokémon do it just as well. Where there's trouble, there's a cause, and it's usually somebody getting greedy. Sooner or later, that somebody is Team Rocket." Saylee sighed. "That's one of the things that makes Red so hard to find. All I can hope for is that he hasn't gotten any better at keeping out of trouble then me."

"Well, he never got to Giovanni like you did, but I remember that he still gave us a ton of trouble. When you're following trouble, I'd say that odds are just as even for finding him as for finding Team Rocket."

"That's all I want out of life right now," Saylee said. She glanced at her Pokémon, gathered around Nider and bringing him up to speed on what they knew about Team Rocket. Nider seemed all for getting to beat people up with moral justification. "Actually, there's one more thing I need, if you think you can find it…"

{}

"Ouch," Chip said, wincing. "That must've been hurtin', whatever it was."

"What?" Saylee said, looking up from her breakfast. Chip pointed at the man who had limped into the dining hall of the Ecruteak Inn and started piling up toast for himself from the heated breakfast bar. Her eyes widened as she recognized the empty left sleeve and the bandaged eye. "Oh my goodness. Bill!"

"You know the guy?" Nider said, staring. "Damn, he looks like he's been through the shit."

"Don't stare at the poor man," Wendy chastised him. "It's rude." Georgia, Mary and Tobias quickly looked back down at their breakfasts.

"Toby, go invite him to sit with us, will you?" Saylee said. "It'll be nice to catch up. I didn't know he'd come out here."

Tobias set his bowl down on the table and flitted away across the large dining hall, flitting around or over the heads of the other diners scattered across the tables with their Pokémon. "Whit happened tae 'im?" Mary asked, watching the Togetic go.

"Science," Saylee said. "Seriously, try not to stare at his injuries, okay? An experiment went very wrong, his Clefairy died and he's bloody lucky that he didn't too. He's also a good friend of mine, so be nice." Everyone looked pointedly at Nider, who had proven himself incapable of resisting any opportunity to take the piss out of people.

"I'm eatin', leave me alone," he grumbled, digging back into his food.

Tobias flew back over, setting Bill's plate down on the table across from Saylee. Bill peered curiously at her as he sat down. Saylee tipped up the brim of her hat and winked.

"I thought it was you!" he said with a lopsided smile. "So, how's the search going?"

"No sign of Red," Saylee said, shaking her head, "but I ran into Team Rocket in Azaela Town. Just a small-time thing, a fundraiser. They're around, though, I'm sure."

A small Eevee trotted in holding a bowl of food in her mouth and settled down on the floor next to Bill. "Who's this, Bill?" she asked, looking around at Saylee and her Pokémon.

"A friend of mine, and your father's," Bill told her. "Everyone, this is Eva. She's Elric and Flo's. Born about a month ago. She's been a big help, and when I said I was coming back to Johto she wanted to come with."

"Oh, wow!" Saylee reached down to ruffle Eva's fur. The little Eevee preened in a way that was ridiculously reminiscent of Flo. "I can see the resemblance. Hi, sweetie!"

"Anyway, if you're not having any leads to finding Red," Bill said, carefully buttering his toast one-handedly, "you should ask Morty."

"Who's Morty?" Saylee asked, returning to her cereal.

"He's the most powerful psychic around. He's the master of a dojo here. He used to be a monk at Bell Tower, but he left about ten years ago. It hasn't diminished his powers in the slightest. He can even see into the future."

"Weren't those weird ladies livin' here too?"Chip asked. "Weren't Ethan's grandparents sayin' they be livin' here?"

"The Geisha?" Saylee said. "Oh, yeah… do you know anything about them, Bill?"

"Geisha?" Bill said in surprise between bites of toast. "Of course. My mother was one."

"Wait, really?" Saylee stared suspiciously at him.

"A long time ago. She had to leave to marry my father, and never really completed her training," Bill said, taken aback by her reaction. "Where did you meet them? They don't normally leave Ecruteak much. Usually, people come to them."

"Well then, there's been an epidemic of itchy feet, because I've run into them twice now in weird places," Saylee grumbled. "I've variously heard that they're a cult, a religious order…"

"Entertainers, primarily," Bill said, shaking his head. "Mother said that there were secrets to be learned once you became a full-fledged Geisha, but of course she never learned them…" He stood up, picking up his emptied plate. "Why don't you come with me to their main house? It's just a couple of streets away, and I believe it's one of their show days. You can see for yourself."

"I like the sound of that," Saylee said, getting up and looking at her Pokémon. "Alright, guys. The law here's the same as everywhere else; one fighter at a time. Chip, why don't you walk with me?"

"Sure," Chip said. Everyone else just shrugged or nodded as they were returned. Tobias looked a little sullen, but he always did when faced with the pokéball.

"This way, then," Bill said, leading her out of the inn and bowing his head politely to the innkeeper on the way out.

"Your limp's looking a lot better," Saylee noted, also bowing to the innkeeper briefly. "You don't need a cane to walk anymore."

"No, I've gotten very comfortable with the new foot prosthetic Carrie made for me," Bill said, walking along the streets of Ecruteak. It was a very pretty city, all traditional buildings with sloped tiled roofs in muted colours that perfectly matched the dull oranges and browns of the trees. Dry leaves littered the paths and crunched under their feet. "My sister thinks that the Pokémon cloning technology should be adapted for humans so I can have a new arm grown. Adapting the technology is an interesting thought, but the problem is how dead and mangled the nerves in my shoulder are. Even if a new arm was grown, it could never be attached…"

"Too bad," Saylee said uncomfortably. Bill seemed fairly blasé about his injuries, but she still couldn't forget his nightmarishly deformed appearance, all the blood…

Then again, it could have been worse. For his Clefairy, it had been.

"Hey, Lee?" Chip asked. "I like bein' out an' all, but should you not be havin' Nider around? He's new, after all, you ought t'be getting' to know 'im…"

"I know, but…" Saylee frowned. "It's probably prejudiced, but I don't think I'd feel… safe, having him out on his own. I'd want you or Georgia out as well."

"Why?" Chip asked, frowning. "I mean, I know how he's bein' kind of a jerk, but 'e wouldn't be hurtin' you…"

"I know that," Saylee insisted. Bill and Eva were both looking confused. "It's just… Blue's parents were killed by a starving herd of wild Nidorino, okay? I didn't see it, but I remember Mum grabbing Red and I and running from them…"

"Oh, my goodness," Bill murmured, reaching around a little awkwardly to pat her on the shoulder. "I didn't realize… I wondered why Blue and Daisy's parents weren't around, but I could never figure out how to ask…"

"It's a little bit of a touchy subject," Saylee warned him. "We were just little at the time, but Blue saw… the beginning of it…" she shook her head. "Don't tell him I told you. He was actually kind of scared of Pokémon for years, until he started training with Sam. And he only did that because—"

She was cut off by a cry of rage, followed by a scream of pain.

"What on earth is that?" Bill said, limping quickly towards a large, elegantly decorated building. "It's coming from the main house!"

"Of course they live here," Saylee muttered, pushing open a gilded door. "Bill, you're disabled and Eva's a baby. Both of you should stay out here. I'll deal with it."

"You will, won't you," Bill said, reaching down to pick up Eva. "We'll go find the police. There are some in this town somewhere, I'm sure…" Once he'd limped off, Saylee ran inside, Chip at her heels.

"C'mon, I'm a paying customer! Gimme a hula dance or something!"

"Please do not force such a request on me…"

Saylee could swear that the woman on the stage was the same woman who had been following her; same pattern of dress, same heavy makeup and hairstyle. A man in an infuriatingly familiar black uniform was shaking her by the wrist and leering at her, while his Koffing belched poisonous gas at anyone else who tried to get up on the stage. An elderly man was already unconscious on the ground. A group of people were tending to him, throwing dirty looks at the Rocket but clearly too scared to actually attack him.

"Nider," Saylee muttered, releasing him and keeping her gaze on the Rocket in case he noticed. He didn't, too distracted by trying to pull the Geisha into dancing with him. "You don't get poisoned, do you?"

"'Course not," Nider said indignantly. "What do I look like, a Rattata?"

"Then go kick the guy in black." Saylee started edging around the wall towards the stage. The Geisha's face wrinkled in disgust as the Rocket succeeded in pulling her close. "Not too hard, just enough to make him let go of her. Once that Koffing's distracted, Chip, Flame Wheel might be a good idea."

"Sure," Chip said, flaring up.

"Hey, ugly!" Nider shouted, running onto the stage. The Rocket glared at him. "Ha! You looked!"

The Geisha stamped hard on the Rocket's foot with one of her heavy wooden sandals. He pushed her back with a shout of rage, which became a yell of pain as Nider kicked him hard on the backs of his knees. He crumpled onto the stage.

"You little— what are you just staring at, get him!" He yelled angrily, pointing at Nider. His Koffing turned to face Nider. As soon as it did, it was struck on the back by a rolling wheel of fire.

"Dammit!" The Rocket yelled, staggering to his feet. "I can't be wasting time here in this shitty dive anyway! Later, losers!"

"Oh no you don't—" Nider growled, leaping at the man, but the Rocket dropped a smokebomb. When everyone could see again, a sliding window was open and the man was gone. "Well, dammit."

"Sorry, Lee," Chip said, climbing onto the stage and rolling the singed Koffing face-up. "He got away."

"That's okay," Saylee said, walking towards the stage herself. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"Thank you for driving away that foul man," the Geisha said, smoothing her dress. "He did not even care to rescue his own Pokémon." She looked sadly down at the charred Koffing lying on the stage.

"He… left me… behind?" The Koffing coughed piteously. She sounded female.

"What's your name?" Saylee asked gently, kneeling next to her.

"Ki… Kiara…" Kiara sucked in a deep breath, sucking traces of her own gases out of the air to rejuvenate herself.

"Well, Kiara, I'm Lyra," Saylee said, pulling a pokéball out of her pocket. "And I'm going to send you to someone who'll look after you." She tapped the pokéball on Kiaara's head and the weakened Pokémon was captured immediately. Saylee flipped open her Pokédex and put Kiara's pokéball onto the portpad.

"…strong, and kind too…"

"…really knows what to look for…"

Saylee spun around. The Geisha was standing by the sliding door at the back of the stage, watching Saylee with a smile. Saylee could swear that she'd heard her whispering to someone, but nobody seemed to be there.

"By the way, what were you doing there?" Saylee asked suspiciously. "In Violet City and Ilex Forest?"

The Geisha frowned in confusion. "I do not understand. I have been here in Ecruteak all month…"

"Thank you so much for driving that thug away!" the theatre crowd surrounded Saylee, Chip and Nider, thanking and congratulating them. Saylee craned over their heads to see that there was no sign of the geisha anywhere in the dance hall. She wasn't on the polished wooden stage, and with the patrons of the dance hall now crowding the stage the audience floor was just a mess of painted silk cushions on tatami flooring. The walls were hung with red sashes matching the missing geisha's obi.

"Hey, where'd she go?" Saylee asked, looking around.

"Oh, she'll have gone back into the house," a woman sighed. "It must have been quite an ordeal for the poor girl, having her performance disrupted like that…"

"Poor girl nothin'," Nider muttered. "I think she kicked him harder than I did." Saylee nodded slightly.

"I'd like to go back and see her, if that's alright…" she said, starting towards the door. Everyone immediately moved to stand in her way.

"I'm very sorry, but you just can't go back there," one man insisted. "You can't possibly trespass in their house, in the okiya! It's a secret place, a sanctuary!"

"You could be cursed," a woman agreed. "Don't do it, we beg of you."

"…Fine," Saylee sighed as police officers ran into the building. "You took your time!"

{}

The police continued to take their time getting full statements from Saylee and the rest of the witnesses before letting them go. Saylee hadn't managed to gain access to the okiya—even the officers were reluctant to tread there and seemed to agree that waiting for one of the women to surface was the best course—but she had managed to learn that Morty had been seen going into the Burned Tower.

"Is that it?" Chip said, pointing to the charred husk of a building that still succeeded in towering over most of the rest of the town, taller than every building save one still very complete and extremely tall tower. It looked like both towers had once been the same, level after level of dark wood fringed with sloping roofs, but one was now reduced to one and a half blackened floors.

"What tipped you off?" Nider asked sarcastically.

"Even if we haven't found out what those Geisha are up to, we can still try talking to this psychic," Saylee said, starting up the steps to the tower.

"How're you knowin' those ladies're bein' up to anything?" Chip said timidly. "I mean, there are holy places in Violet and Ilex, maybe they were bein' there for… I dunno, prayer, somethin'…"

"Been in Ecruteak all month," Saylee muttered. "I said I'd seen her in Violet City and Ilex Forest, but I never said when… so how did she know when she wasn't there?"

{}

{}

I'm so sorry about the long update gap! We have been experiencing technical difficulties, but it's all good now, hopefully :D I'll update again on Thursday for certain, never fear :D

Kiara's from the Burned Tower, not the dance hall, for obvious reasons.

Name: Kiara. Species: Koffing. Nature: Adamant. Ability: Levitate. Level: 14