As predicted, the small group of trainers arrived in the Raimei Valley some two hours later. Following the crowd they walked up out of the tunnel and got their first glance of the valley.
They stood on the very outskirts of the Shikon mountain range, which flowed down into the valley on the western side. On the eastern side were rolling hills which led to Shikon's agricultural lands and the fourth gym of Niwatei. Between both rested the Raimei Valley, the center of Shikon's electrical power and home of the third pokémon gym.
"The first thing we need to do is report in to the police," Kagome said. "Should we all do that together, or…?"
"I'll do it," Sango volunteered for the second time. "You guys should head straight to the Centre and get some beds for us. We'll be here for a few days while we wait for Naraku to show up."
Sesshoumaru frowned. "Should we not let the police deal with him? Naraku is a criminal, and we are not equipped to confront him."
"We have our pokémon," Sango rebutted. "What more do we need?"
"I don't know," Kagome murmured, uncomfortable. "The last time we battled him was difficult – if he's been gathering stronger pokémon, what chance would we stand?"
"If you don't want to stick around, that's fine," the gym leader offered, eyes cold. "But I want to get him back personally for what he's done, and get my brother back."
Kagome hesitated, looking to Sesshoumaru for guidance. Together they could likely defeat Naraku, but the police had advised them not to seek him out. Who should they listen to?
"…We will have to think about it," Sesshoumaru said. "We will challenge the gym here – what comes next will depend on us."
"That's fine," Sango shrugged. "Do what you will – but don't get in my way."
"Sango…" Miroku whispered, slightly appalled.
Her glare cut him off, and then the three of them were silently following her down into the town below them.
"This Sango sounds very…determined," Mama Higurashi said to Kagome and Sesshoumaru about an hour later.
"She is that," Sesshoumaru agreed blandly.
"And you say she is the second gym leader?"
"Yes, Mama," Kagome affirmed. "But since her brother…left home," she fibbed, "she's been bound and determined to find him, so she left the gym."
"But someone is looking out for it, like your friend Miroku has someone looking after his, right?"
"Her father will, once he is well," Sesshoumaru answered.
"He is sick?"
"Yes," Kagome said, biting her lip. She hated lying to her mother, but she couldn't tell her they were on the trail of a PokéCriminal. Mama would worry about her even more than she already was, and Kagome didn't want to cause that, especially when they weren't sure yet if they would go after him like Sango wanted.
Mama noticed her hesitation, but chose to ignore it. "So you are going to challenge the third gym leader tomorrow?"
"We are!" Kagome confirmed eagerly. "And the gym uses electric type pokémon, so this time I'll have the type advantage." She cast Sesshoumaru an amused glance and was rewarded with his insipid one.
"Speaking of which, I would like to take the time to catch a new pokémon," he intoned. "As you said, I am at a type disadvantage."
"All you had to do was ask," Kagome giggled, making him smirk.
On screen Mama Higurashi smiled indulgently. "I'm glad you two are getting along. I was a little worried about you two going on this adventure – I'm happy to lay my fears to rest."
"No need to worry about us, Mama," Kagome reassured her. "Everything is going absolutely perfectly!"
"Just don't forget to call me more!" the elder Higurashi chided gently. "It's been more than a week since you called me in Musashi."
"I'll try, Mama."
"We may be in the Raimei Valley for a few days," Sesshoumaru said leadingly. "After that, we travel to Niwatei – walking should take us another three days."
"So I shouldn't expect a call for another week at least," she said ruefully.
"We will call before we leave," Sesshoumaru contradicted, prompting surprised smiles from both Higurashi women.
A few minutes later the couple ended their call to the Higurashi's. "Can we really call Mama again before we leave?" Kagome asked excitedly.
"Kagome, if you wish it, you may call every day," Sesshoumaru offered, slightly appalled by the question. "I would not prevent you from doing so."
"I know, but we're so busy, what with training, battling, and travelling."
"Calling home brings you comfort," he said seriously. "Do not feel that you must ask to do so."
"Okay," she promised, smiling faintly. "I'm going to go walk around the valley a bit, and try to catch up with Sango. Are you going to call your stepmom?"
"I will," he confirmed, and found that he wasn't all together against doing so. That alone made him scowl, surprised with himself, but Kagome interpreted it differently.
"Don't look too upset to be talking to her," his companion chided gently. "She only wants to make you happy, so you could try to do the same."
"I will endeavour to not frown," he intoned sarcastically.
"Good, see that you don't!" Kagome giggled. "Well, I'm going to go now."
Leaning over, she pressed a kiss to his cheek and fled, her own a cherry red. Smirking, Sesshoumaru turned back to the calling box, dialing his home number.
"Sesshoumaru," Izayoi greeted a few minutes later.
"Izayoi," he replied. Sesshoumaru immediately noticed that his brother wasn't with her. "Where is Inuyasha?"
She seemed astonished that he would ask. "He is playing outside with Souta."
"Would you call him in?"
She looked even more amazed, if that was possible. "Yes, of course, give me a moment."
While he waited, Sesshoumaru mulled over his stepmother's shock, and realized it was because he made a specific request to speak to Inuyasha. He had never done that before – if anything, he had purposely avoided Inuyasha most of the time. He could only assume that finally letting Kagome into his heart was allowing other things he had purposefully denied himself, such as caring about Inuyasha.
Neither Sango nor Kagome would do the same to their younger brothers, he admitted to himself. Sango's absolute dedication to her brother might actually cause her to dislike Sesshoumaru, for his treatment of his own sibling.
Perhaps I made a mistake, keeping Inuyasha at arm's length for so long…
"Sesshou!" a happy voice shouted, drawing his attention back to the video phone machine.
"Inuyasha," he replied, and he couldn't help the way Inuyasha's delighted, gap-toothed grin made him slightly smile. "You are looking well."
"Souta and I battled today!"
"Oh?" Sesshoumaru smirked. He was familiar with the boys' tendency to mock battle with imagined pokémon. He wondered what Inuyasha had used this time.
"Yeah! I have a Pidgey, just like you!" Inuyasha declared eagerly, bouncing in his seat beside his mother.
"And what does Souta have?" he asked, honestly curious.
"A Caterpie," Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes.
Sesshoumaru chuckled low in his throat, causing Inuyasha's eyes to widen slightly before grinning as wide as he possibly could.
"Mizu evolved," Sesshoumaru told him suddenly, deciding he wanted his brother to know.
"Really?" Inuyasha gasped, eyes glowing excitedly. "So you have a Wartortle now?"
"I do," he confirmed.
"Wow! Mom, Sesshou has a Wartortle!" the young boy exclaimed to the woman seated beside him.
"So he does," she murmured, casting Sesshoumaru a grateful look. He shifted uncomfortably.
"Tell us more, Sesshou!"
"…Very well."
"Kagome, what are you doing without your shadow?" a dry voice chuckled. Kagome gasped slightly, spinning to face it and relaxing upon seeing it was Miroku.
"Who, Sesshoumaru?" she asked.
Miroku grinned. "Is there another boy that dutifully sticks to your side like a lap dog?"
Kagome huffed, crossing her arms. "He's not a lap dog. He's my…boyfriend," she openly admitted, blushing but smiling widely.
"I had suspected that was the case," Miroku mock groaned. "A shame, really. Such a beautiful girl wasted on a boy with no emotions."
"You don't know him like I do," she answered firmly, nose tipping up with a haughty sniff. Miroku just chuckled again, gesturing towards the Centre's main doors. She preceded him with a slight flounce.
"Shall we go meet Sango at the police station?" Miroku asked of Kagome as they left the Centre.
"Sure. I just wanted to walk around anyway," she agreed.
As it was in Gorintou, the Pokémon Centre was directly beside the gym, no doubt a way to expedite matters when trainers left it, whether victorious or not. Walking passed, Kagome saw that the gym was actually closed, and without having sent word ahead, it would be unlikely that someone might yet be inside to let them in and look around.
Guess we'll be going in blind this time, she thought. I doubt we'll find the time to have a look tomorrow during operating hours, what with getting a new pokémon with Sesshoumaru, and other trainers occupying the leaders' time.
Though we do know the energy type, she cheered internally. So we can prepare for that. That it will be a double battle is also a bonus – Charmander and Mankey would make a good combo against electricity.
"Sango should be done with the police now, correct?" Miroku asked as they reached the front doors. No one stood outside to greet them, and Kagome shrugged slightly.
"When Sesshoumaru and I had to deal with the police, it took many hours to finish with them – and that was just to file a report! She's probably still inside."
"Yes…yes, no doubt you are correct," he agreed hesitantly. "Then let us go in and wait for her."
"You can do that, I'm going to keep looking around," Kagome demurred. "We may be here for a couple days, if Sesshoumaru decides to wait with Sango for Naraku to show up. So I want to know what there is to do in the valley."
"Then I will see you later," Miroku promised.
As he entered the Station Kagome continued down the street, keeping to the city center.
The Raimei Valley was built outwards in a kind of spiral. In the center of town was the Gym, beside which was the Pokémon Centre to its right, and the Police Station nearby on its left. Working out from this center were businesses – PokéMarts, other small knickknack stores, gaming stores, and Pokémon Clubs. Surrounding this business district was a residential one, filled with houses and small apartment buildings. This filled the majority of the valley. On the northern outskirts, nearby to where the land ended at a beautiful beach was the Raimei Power Plant, which generated the energy used by the entire Shikon region.
Intrigued by the hulking metal building at the edge of town, Kagome made her way over there, curious to see how the energy that she thoughtlessly used every day was created.
She knew of course that electric pokémon were capable of producing those large amounts of energy, and had been made to do so in the past. But while Shikon wasn't a large region, it had a rather large population – surely pokémon alone would not be able to produce those amounts of electrical energy.
She walked into the building hesitantly, wondering if she'd be allowed in. She was cornered almost immediately by men in lab coats who asked her what her business there was. Kagome introduced herself and admitted that she was just curious to know how they made the electricity for the region, and was immediately whisked away by happy scientists, eager to educate her on the topic.
"There's another girl here right now that was also curious to know how we operate here," the scientist beside her said. He'd introduced himself as Sayo. "She's with my boss Seikai right now."
"Maybe we could join them," Kagome suggest, eager to meet and possibly make a new friend.
"That is a splendid idea, Miss Higurashi," Sayo happily agreed. "We must hurry, then – I believe they are looking at the generators already."
They hurried along the hallways, skipping numerous rooms and other scientists as they sought to catch up with the others. They soon reached a set of double doors, and Sayo halted her just before Kagome would have pushed open the doors.
"Here, you'll want to wear these," he instructed, handing her a pair of hair earmuffs. "It gets quite loud in there, so we won't be able to talk. But once you've had a look, I and Seikai can take you both back out and explain how they work."
"Okay," she agreed, placing them over her ears. It was like her sense of hearing was immediately cut off, and her eyes widened fractionally at the effect of the muffs. She really couldn't hear anything!
Sayo opened the doors and the walked in. Kagome was immediately hit by a deep droning noise, and she was thankfully for the headset. She had a good feeling that it would be deafening without them.
She turned when Sayo tapped her shoulder, and glanced over to where he was pointing. Kagome first saw another man in a lab coat, this one much wider than Sayo, and beside him the petite form of another girl. Grinning, she hurried to their side, eager to join them. She stopped, however, when she saw who the other girl was.
"SANGO?" she screeched.
Somehow she must have been heard even through the earmuffs, for both Sango and Seikai turned around, the former surprised and the latter curious.
Sango's expression was one of contrition, but it was soon replaced by a determined scowl. She glared at Kagome a little before turning around again, intently studying the generators. Huffing, Kagome stepped up beside her to also take a look.
There were a total of ten large generators organized into two rows. They were easily each the size of one truck, and Kagome gaped, awed by the shear magnitude of these machines. At the end of each generator was an electric pokémon, all of them either Voltorbs or Electrodes.
The quartet stayed there for a few moments more before Seikai gestured for them all to follow him out. Once they were safely outside the double doors again he took all the headsets, hanging them on the wall.
"Sorry to cut that so short," he began, glancing especially to Kagome who hadn't had much time in there, "but even with the muffs, too much exposure to noise even in the viewing area can cause minor deafness."
"I understand," Kagome smiled.
"If you like, you can follow Sayo and I back to the main entrance where we have displays set up. We can explain how everything works there."
"That sounds good," Sango agreed.
The two girls walked sedately behind the scientists, who talked together quietly. Hoping they would continue to ignore them for a while longer, Kagome twisted her head to glance at Sango.
"What are you doing here?" she asked softly, confused, angry, and a little hurt. "You said you were going to report Naraku to the Police Station. You insisted that you would, so Sesshoumaru and I wouldn't have to."
"I did that already," Sango answered, refusing to look at the other girl.
"That's a lie," Kagome hissed, her anger winning over. "It takes hours to file a police report because they want to be sure that you are correct and telling the truth. It's barely more than one hour since we got here, so tell me the truth! Why didn't you go to the Police Station? Miroku is there waiting for you right now!"
Sango hesitated slightly, biting her lip. "Miroku is waiting for me?"
"Yes," Kagome confirmed firmly. "He thinks you are still there giving your report. So why aren't you doing that?"
Sango scowled, casting the still oblivious scientists a quick glance. "Because I don't want them to know about Naraku."
"You have got to be kidding," Kagome said, disbelief clear in her wide eyes and raised brows. "I thought you wanted to stop Naraku and get your brother back."
"I do," Sango insisted angrily, glaring. "ButNaraku said if we involve the police, he'll hurt Kohaku!"
"Sango, you can't stop him on your own. The police will do everything in their power to make sure Kohaku isn't hurt. You have to tell them."
"I cannot," she refused, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes. "I was not there for my father or my brother because I was…distracted. I cannot risk my brother's life again."
"You can't blame yourself for this," Kagome tried to assure her. "Naraku would have taken the pokémon whether you were there or not; Kohaku was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"But the point is that I was not there. And this time I will be."
Kagome looked away, unsure of what to say. Sango was very insistent on not telling the police, but…they already knew about Naraku's existence in Shikon. Telling them he might be coming to Raimei would surely aid in their investigation.
"Please do not rat me out," Sango pleaded, catching Kagome's attention again. "Just give me this chance. If I fail…then I promise we will go to the Police."
Kagome bit her lip, uncertain. "…All right," she finally answered, "I'll wait and see." Sango's relaxing shoulders didn't make her feel any better – in fact, she felt like she'd made a mistake. But she understood where Sango was coming from, and surely between the four of them they would be able to stop Naraku.
"You can't tell Miroku or Sesshoumaru either."
"What?" Kagome gasped. That was definitely something she couldn't agree to! "But if they're to help you, they need to know that the Police won't be able to back us up!"
"You can't tell them," Sango repeated firmly.
"You just don't want Miroku to know you lied," Kagome accused.
"That's…that's not true!" she denied, blushing. Kagome snorted.
"Ladies!" Seikai said, drawing their attention. "If you'll join us over here we'll explain how the generators work."
"Excellent," Sango smiled, casting Kagome one last telling glance before joining the two men.
"As you saw, we have a total of ten Voltorb and Electrodes powering the generator. Alone they are not enough to power all of Shikon, though, so what they actually do is power a much larger generator that draws energy from the tides in the Northern Seas." Seikai pointed to the diagram in front of them, showing the schematics for the generator the pokémon powered.
"So the pokémon do not actually power any part of Shikon?" Kagome asked.
"As a matter of fact, they do power one building," Sayo clarified, grinning. "The Gym here is powered specifically by them as well, as per the very first leader's request."
"Ah," Sango murmured, as if that had confirmed something for her. "And is there any risk to the Gym because of that?"
"Well, the pokémon do get switched every few hours on a type of shift," Sayo revealed. "But they are replaced one at a time, so there is no chance that power will be cut off to the Gym or the generator!"
"I see," she murmured. And Kagome thought she did too.
"You think Naraku is going to target the Power Plant," she stated some time later as they were walking back to the Centre.
"I am confident that is his plan," Sango agreed. "The Raimei Gym is guarded by a very advanced security system. If he wishes to get in without alerting anyone, he will need to cut the power to it."
"And what will you do to stop him?"
"I don't plan to," she answered. Before Kagome could shout at her Sango raised a hand beseechingly and continued. "I don't plan to stop him at the Power Plant. There is too much risk that something vital could be damaged if we battled there. Instead, once he cuts the power – for he surely will – I will enter the Gym and wait for him there."
"You mean we will enter the Gym," Kagome contradicted. "If you want me to keep this secret, you have to let us help you."
"Fine," Sango acquiesced. "But I wish to be the one to battle him."
"All right," Kagome sighed. She didn't wasn't too sure about this plan, but at least Sango was willing to let them help her.
"So what's up with you and Miroku?" she asked after some minutes of silence.
Sango blushed brightly, her eyes widening and gaze snapping to Kagome. "There is nothing up with us!"
"No?" Kagome asked teasingly, grinning. "He seems to wish there was."
The older girl huffed, looking away with a scowl and flaming red cheeks. "Mind your own business, Kagome!" she said, before stomping off.
Kagome shook her head, smiling bemusedly and following after.