Ah, it's still nice to update quick. It never gets old.

I really appreciate your comments. It's so nice to get feedback; all your opinions, advice, even your reactions to what happens. I'm glad enough to know someone enjoys this fic enough to speak up about it!

Chapter 26
An Overdue Call

Marina's head swirled as she eased into consciousness. A cool, comfortable bedspread covered her body. Nearby, the firm, serious voice of a reporter was speaking through a hallow filter. She listened drowsily, stagnant and unaware of the meaning of the words.

"…Today, the island city has been cleaned thanks to recovery efforts. However, so far only two things have been reconstructed: the city's Pokémon Center and a sign reading Cinnabar's motto, which rings ironic today. This is Linda reporting from Cinnabar Island, The Town of Burning Desire. Thank you for tuning..."

A TV?

Her eyelids lazily opened, peering through the sunlight leaking through the windows. A white drywall ceiling stared at her from above, and she swallowed to relieve her dry throat. As she did so, a material around her neck tightened and loosened. Marina curiously moved a hand to her neck. Her fingers felt a smooth surface. She blinked as her mind finally came to, and she sat up, holding her head that was still heavy with sleep.

Where am I?

Her eyes first went to the television set across the room, which suddenly turned off, and then to a pink-haired girl that watched her with wide eyes.

Whitney smiled and put down the remote. "Finally! You're awake! I'm so relieved!"

"Um..." Marina looked around. The room they resided in appeared to be a large guest room of sorts. Her Trainer clothes were folded in a neat, clean pile in the corner of the bed, and next to them were her backpack and belt. She herself wore her set of purple pajamas, which contrasted brightly against the gold-colored sheets.

Finally, Marina looked back at Whitney, tilting her head. "Where are we?"

Beaming, the Gym Leader put her hands on her hips. "We're in the Pokémon Communication Center," she said.

"Oh!" Marina blinked a few times. "Were you watching the TV?"

"Eheh, yeah. There's nothing else to do. You were sleeping and I was bored to tears just sitting around!"

"Ah..." Marina frowned blankly. Seeing this, Whitney raised an eyebrow.

"...You aren't going to ask me who I am, are you?"

"What?" The blue-haired girl giggled. "No! I know who you are; you're the Goldenrod Gym Leader...

"Wait, what happened back at the Gym?! With the Rocket people and the Arbok! And my Eevee! What happened to him? Is he okay?" she suddenly asked, frantic.

Whitney sighed and put her hands on her hips. "So you did forget for a little while. I'll tell you as soon as you get dressed. You do want to pick up your Pokémon already, don't you? You're way overdue to do that now," she laughed.

"Oh yeah! Um, okay!" Marina nodded, watching as the pink-haired girl scooted out of the room.

She wasted no time getting out of bed to stretch her arms and change clothes. The constant bustling of Goldenrod City could be heard outside her window, where the ocean could be seen glittering in the distance beside the sleepless golden metropolis. She marveled her surroundings as she slipped on her shorts. The room was quaint, had a beautiful cobalt rug and even a compact kitchen—much like a hotel suite.

This is gorgeous…and so much space! I didn't even know they had rooms this pretty. I could have sworn that Nurse Joy said I was going to have roommates, but there's only one bed here. She wondered as she got dressed, smiling a little. The only assumption she could make sense of was that this was Whitney's doing.

Just as she was pulling on her pink shirt, she felt the sort of smooth collar around her neck once more. Curiosity sweeping into her train of thought, she walked over to the full-length mirror on the wall and pulled down the pink turtleneck of her shirt. She leaned close to her reflection and stared thoughtfully.

It was a small, elegant choker. The sleek strip was black with a scarlet rose clip settled at its center, right below her chin. She tapped the flower a few times, puzzled.

"When did I get this?" she asked herself. "I don't remember wearing it before..."

A faint, awkward memory came to her, and her expression went blank as she pondered hard to grasp it. But just as whimsical as it had come, it fluttered away from her groping thoughts. Marina spent a few moments still staring, yet the memory would no longer return to her. She pouted at her mirror image.

"Geez, it was right at the tip of my tongue, too," she muttered. "Maybe Whitney's right; I don't remember anything from when I passed out. Or even when I got this cute little collar. Hm… That's really weird."

Impatient knocking on the door interrupted her.

"Hey, are you done yet?" Whitney asked her from the other side. "Bring everything with you, okay?"

Marina immediately stood up, fixing her shirt's collar and concealing the little rose neckband from sight. Busily she slipped everything else on with haste, from her lavender bandana to her sneakers.

"Right! I'm coming!"

When Marina left the room, she and Whitney headed down the open hallway and went down a flight of stairs. Other Trainers seemed to gawk at them, mostly at Whitney, as they passed. Though Marina did not seem to notice at first, Whitney was grinning with dignity and waved at them with a playful wink every so often.

"It must be because of the pigtails," Marina said when she finally caught on.

"Huh?" Whitney turned to her, puzzled.

"Well, we're both wearing our hair in pigtails." Marina ran her fingers through one of her cerulean ponytails, smiling. "Yours are short and spiky and mine are long and flippy. You know?"

With a short giggle at the random conclusion, Whitney shrugged as they walked through the Trainer-infested lobby. "Maybe. Pigtails are cute, after all!"

"I know, right?"

"Absolutely right!"

"Eheh! Anyway, how long was I asleep?"

"I wasn't around the whole time, since I had to talk to the authorities for a while. But from what I heard, you were just out like a light. You didn't even wake up when they transferred you here from the hospital."

Marina paused, staring at Whitney with wide eyes. Recalling that she had a bandage on her ankle, which barely hurt now, she quickly double-checked the treated injury and looked back at her. "I went to the hospital?"

"Where else would they take you first? Here? You're not a Pokémon," said Whitney with a sly grin. "The doctors had to check you were A-OK first. Turns out you were just sleeping like a baby with only a couple cuts and bruises, so they just patched you up and I offered to let you sleep in that high-class room by yourself. Don't worry about the costs; I've got you covered, but only for when you were asleep. Now it's off to the normal guest bedrooms with you!

"But anyway, if I had to make a guess, I think you've been asleep for over a day."

"A full day?" Marina's jaw dropped. "As in, I slept through the rest of that day and all of yesterday? Woah."

"Yup,I'd say so! You must've been exhausted. I don't blame you, either; I would be too if I were in your situation."

"Geez..." Marina looked up at the many lights shining from the ceiling. "But what happened to those Team Rocket people?"

The young Gym Leader laughed. "You won't believe it. They ran!"

"They ran?"

"Yeah! Right after you fell unconscious. Took their nasty snake and left with their tails between their legs! They act all tough but flee over wind from some bird Pokémon. I told you that those cowards couldn't stand up to us cute girls."

Marina giggled openly at her claims. "Of course! Must be the pigtails," she added, resulting in another laugh from Whitney.

"You have eight Pokémon on your team," Nurse Joy told Marina as she handed her a tray of six Poké Balls, Eevee's Poké Ball, and the light yellow egg.

Marina handled the items cumbersomely and made a sheepish grin. "I know, I'm only allowed to have six. I'll get to that."

"Uh-huh," Joy sighed, clacking away busily at her computer. "Just make sure you get that taken care of, okay, dear?"

"I will. Bye!" She turned and carefully walked toward Whitney, who rose from her seat.

"Need some help?"

With a laugh, Marina nodded. "Yeah, my hands are full. Thanks," she replied as Whitney took the egg from her.

Setting down the tray of seven Pokémon, she gazed at them all and grinned. Finally, I've got them back.

Picking up a few at a time, and checking there was enough room around them, Marina sent out all her Pokémon. King the Quilava yawned and yipped happily when he saw his Trainer, while Misdreavus floated calmly beside him without paying much attention. Nana the Furret, Tata the Rattata, and Phany the Phanpy greeted Marina simultaneously like a cheerful choir. Kenya the Spearow followed suit, cawing and flapping his wings energetically before landing next to them.

"Vui! Evui!"

King's ears twitched, and the others too blinked in he looked down at Marina's feet, where the Eevee stood with innocent dignity.

"Everyone, this is your new partner, Ee..." Marina trailed off.

"What?" Whitney asked.

Marina turned away from her Pokémon, plagued with thought. "I haven't given a nickname to Eevee yet."

"Oh," Whitney laughed. "So does that mean you recently got that Eevee?"

"Yup, someone gave him to me the other day."

Marina stared at the little brown Pokémon at her heels and put a finger to her lips in thought. Let's see...What name would fit Eevee's personality?

Meanwhile, King approached the fox, who eyed him calmly. "Maguma?"

"Eievui," Eevee replied. The Quilava chattered excitedly and turned to his companions, who gathered around Marina to meet the Eevee.

Marina smiled. Well, there's King...and...

"Prince...? That sounds good. Yeah! Everyone, this is Prince the Eevee." Marina bent over, petting the fox's head. The Pokémon returned the stare. "Do you like it? It's perfect for you."

With a twitch of his ears, he barked happily and returned his attention to his new playmates.

"Great! I'm glad." Marina looked over her other Pokémon, smiling at each one, watching them with a thoughtful expression. Eventually, one by one, she recalled all but two of her Pokémon.

"Say, Nana...Tata," the girl began. She knelt down in front of the ferret and rat Pokémon, who smiled pleasantly as she petted them affectionately. "Would you two mind if you took a break at Professor Elm's Laboratory for a little bit? Back at New Bark Town? It's close to where we first met."

Nana and Tata stared pensively for a moment, but grew energetic again at the remembrance of their home on Route 29. Marina smiled sweetly and hugged them both, giggling as they wiggled in her soft grip. She pulled away, picking out their Poké Balls.

"I'll visit as soon as I can, okay? Have fun," she said as she returned them. Looking at the Poké Balls, slightly transparent in their larger forms, she grinned again at the little silhouettes and kissed both spheres as an extra farewell.

Beside the nurse's desk was a line of bulky PCs fit with transport devices, one for Poké Balls and the other for items. Already running and accessible for Trainers to store their Pokémon using the PC Storage System, Marina walked over to one. After some technical help from Whitney, she transported her two Pokémon to Professor Elm's Lab. As Whitney and Marina walked out of the PCC, Whitney handed her the egg.

"I've got to get back to my Gym," she stated. "Plenty to do there, you know. That battle made a wreck of the place."

Handling the egg in a firm, safe grip, Marina replied, "Okay. I'll come back sometime to battle you for a gym badge. How long will it take to clean it up?"

"Oh, it'll take a while. But you can come by later today, okay?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, no problem! ...I wonder..." The two girls walked down the street casually, approaching the five-story department store.

"What?" Marina asked.

"Last week or so, I fought this boy with a Quilava too," she said with a tone of disdain. "Though not as cool as yours, of course. His was normal-looking and bleh."

"Oh? Really?" Marina felt a smile of interest spreading evenly on her face after a moment.

Is Kenta really that far ahead? She thought. Wow!

"Yeah, but man, he was such a jerk!"

"Huh?" She blinked, her brightly-sparked interest wavering. "How?"

"He was such a pain. He didn't go easy on me at all! The nerve of him!" Whitney growled.

"Oh," Marina muttered, disappointed. I guess that's not him.

"What do you mean, 'Oh'? Don't you agree with me?"

"Oh, sure!" Marina responded perkily. They stopped just outside the traffic of shoppers going to and from the department store.

"I hope you have fun with your shopping," Whitney said as she left. "Make sure you come back to the Gym!"

"I will!" Marina called after her, waving.

After having an ample brunch at one of the café's, Marina climbed to the fourth floor to look through the clothing section. King sat nearby, holding the egg as he watched her skim through the racks. His thick white collar brimmed with multiple colors, and the Quilava, growing bored of her indecisive shirt-picking, glanced around at the orange and black decorations adorning much of the area.

"I've been having some strange dreams lately, King," Marina said to him, browsing through jackets with an azure shirt held in her arm. King turned his head back to her, scooting closer.

"What kind of dreams?" he tried asking as quietly as possible, so he would not cause alarm from others walking by. The collar adjusted to his whisper accordingly.

"I don't know, just really weird... I can't really remember them too well."

"Odd dreams can happen if you ate something weird beforehand," he eyed her with an odd grin, "have you been hiding candy from me?"

"What? No!" Marina laughed.

"What? It would be super awesome if—halloponytaanytymint—candy. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge." King cooed happily, ignoring or oblivious to his collar's failed translation.

"I might get you something special if you're good. Ooh! Found it! See, this is cute, isn't it?" Marina skipped over to King, who snorted in amusement of her outfit choice. Marina giggled. In her hands were a jacket and a shirt identical to the one she wore, except in a cool azure color that replaced the pink. The shirt, however, bore longer sleeves reaching the elbow, and the white in the jacket was changed to a light blue.

"It looks like what you're wearing now."

"I'm getting it anyways," she replied. "It's getting close to winter, so I might need it. The blue looks so good on it, too!" After letting her laughter out, she purchased the outfit and, while King was not paying attention, a small bag of various sweets as well.

Afterward, the girl and her Pokémon headed to the rooftop to relax. The sky was littered with slow-moving clouds, and at times the sun bled through in shimmering golden rays. When she bought herself and her Quilava a drink—pouring his into a water dish—and sat at a table, Marina's mind wandered. She slid her backpack off and took out her little orange journal, grabbing a gel pen and scribbling another couple pages, front and back.

Marina flicked her wrist, sore from all the writing, when she was done. Flipping back a few pages, her eyes read attentively before shutting the notebook. She put it away and stared at the can of lemonade in front of her.

"They were the same guys wearing black, weren't they?" she softly asked. "Huh, Team Rocket...?"

Hope I never see them again... That was scary.

"What?" Her Quilava, lounging on the table with the yellow egg, shifted his head toward her.

"I was just thinking," Marina said with a smile, waving the thought away with her hand.

He stared blankly, waiting as a shopper passed their table. "Have you called your family yet?" he suggested.

"Um..." She froze, looking down at her PokéGear. "Oops."

"Oops?"

Marina wore an uneasy smile as she took off her PokéGear and turned it on. "I...think I'll call home."

After selecting the first number on her contact list, she waited as it rang. Resting her free hand on her chin, she watched and braced herself for the quiet atmosphere to be quickly replaced by her sister.

Sure enough—.

"Where have you been?!" May's voice screamed from the device.

King flattened his ears and winced, eying the phone as if it were insane.

"Hi May," Marina greeted happily, turning down the volume of her PokéGear.

"'Hi May'? That's all you can say, after all this time? Sheesh, it's been forever! And you haven't even called at all!"

It wasn't that long, was it? Marina mentally asked.

"Mom and I were so worried about you! ...Hey, Marina? Did you hang up or something? Are you there?"

"I'm here May, I'm here. Chill out," she coolly told her younger sister, "A lot has happened, trust me! I'm fine!"

May sighed, making sure that her sister could hear it. "Where are you?"

"Well... I'm in Goldenrod City!"

"Wow! Goldenrod City? Really?" May's angry voice softened as she called to her mother. "Mom, sister's in Goldenrod City already!" Her tone then grew louder as she asked, "Is the city big?"

"May, it's really big."

"With a lot of streets and stores?"

"Yes! I can't even count how many times I've gotten lost here already," Marina said in mock annoyance. She smiled as she heard May's light giggle.

"Hey, have you been to the department store yet?"

"Hmm," she lounged back in her chair, gazing at the cloudy heavens above, "Maybe. I'm relaxing on the roof of it; does that count?"

"Oh, did you go shopping yet?" May excitedly asked, her anger nonexistent—melted away with lively joy and relief.

"Sure did! I couldn't get that much though. I couldn't decide what to get anyways, there's so much to choose from! There's even a store full of cute Pokémon dolls; geez, I wanted to buy them so badly!"

"Wow!"

"I even saw someone showing a tape from one of Chris's battles, too!"

"Cool... Hey, mom wants to talk to you, 'Kay?"

"Okay!"

After a few moments' pause, Caroline's soft, pleased voice spoke. "Marina, I'm so glad to hear from you! How are you doing?"

"Good," Marina chirped cheerfully.

"So I hear you're in Goldenrod already?"

"Yup, and ready to get my third badge."

"My, third already? Just like your brother, working hard and rushing through headfirst," Caroline replied with a gentle laugh. "Don't forget to slow down a little and enjoy the scenery. You'll burn yourself out."

"I'm fine," Marina said. "I'm having a blast!"

Best not tell her about what happened at the Pokémon Gym, though, she warned herself. She'd flip her lid.

"I'm glad. How are Kenta and Jackson doing?"

"Oh, well, we split up a while back," explained Marina. "Jackson's in Azalea Town trying to get his second badge. But for Kenta, I don't know actually. I haven't heard a thing from him."

"Professor Elm said that he picked up the Pokémon egg that you three went on an errand for."

"Oh, really?" She sat up, smiling.

So that means we're both carrying around Pokémon eggs, she thought. That's cool!

"I'm sure you'll meet up with him at some point."

"Yeah! I hope so. It's been a while."

"Have you been taking good care of your Pokémon?"

"I sure have," Marina answered. "I try to pet them and give them lots of fresh air." She reached over to King and patted him on the head, and the ermine beamed and closed his eyes in enjoyment.

"Have you been washing yourself daily?"

"Naturally! Well, whenever I can."

"Your clothes too?"

"Yup!"

"Are you keeping your hair tidy?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Are you still wearing the bandana Kenta gave you?"

"Yes, Mom."

"How sweet," her mother crooned. In the background, Marina could hear her sister's laughter.

Marina rolled her eyes, grinning. "May's making you ask all these questions, isn't she?"

"She's giving me ideas," Caroline answered, "But I'm very glad to hear you're safe and doing well."

"Well, so much has happened; I can't even begin to start! Like the other day I got an Eevee from—." Marina was interrupted mid-sentence as a beeping sound emitted from the phone's speakers. Blinking, she checked the phone, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "What's that?"

"Oh, that's the oven, Marina. My Cinnabar Volcano Burgers are just about ready."

"Aw, you're making them?" Marina asked in disbelief. Her mother was a fantastic cook, according to her family and anyone who had tried her food. The girl made a childish, begging frown. "I wish I could have one!"

"I'll be sure to cook you some when you come back home. I wish I could talk to you longer, honey, but I have to go."

"Oh, alright."

"Goodbye, Marina. Keep at it, I'm rooting for you! I love you!"

"I love you too, mom!" Marina replied with a smile.

After some shuffling around, her sister's voice returned. "Sis, I've got to hang up now. Mom might need my help," she informed regrettably.

"It's okay, May. It's not like this'll be the last time I talk to you."

"It better not be! Call us more!"

"I will, I promise! Bye, May!"

"Goodbye, Marina!"

The PokéGear fell quiet.

Marina sighed happily. "May has a lot more energy lately."

"I can't believe she's your sister," her crimson Quilava commented. "You're perky and she's just rowdy."

"You'd be surprised how girly she actually is. She refuses to wear shorts no matter what," she giggled with a smile. "Anyway, are ready for a Gym battle?"

"You bet I am! I'm just—ichatopekabattleindigo! Yeah!" he replied eagerly as Marina laughed and took off his collar. Returning him into his Poké Ball, the girl picked up the Pokémon egg and carefully checked her lavender bandana. Looking out at the beautiful scenery that Goldenrod had to offer, Marina headed off for the Gym.

"No way!" Marina gawked. In the palm of her hand was a silver diamond-shaped badge—the Plain Badge. Dumbfounded, her eyes scrolled up to the Gym Leader, who stood at the Gym's entrance in front of her. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely! I owe you a ton for helping me battle the other day, you know," Whitney replied without a doubt. "I mean, I would've been a goner without you."

"But I didn't battle you to earn it! Isn't that against the rules?"

Whitney grinned in a snooty sort of way. "A Gym Leader does not necessarily need to battle Trainers to give away Gym Badges. If a Gym Leader feels a Trainer has earned it, they are permitted to give them away. You proved your worth! It took some guts to help, and to go so far for your Pokémon's safety—as recklessly stupid as that was."

Marina laughed lightly, humbled. "That was kinda silly of me. I could've just used a Poké Ball."

"Even so, I think you've earned it, so there you go!"

"Thank you!" With her one free hand, Marina pinned her third Pokémon League badge to the collar of her jacket. The new badge proudly gleamed along with the Hive and Zephyr Badges.

Whitney looked at them too, hands on her hips. "Anyways, you're going north to Ecruteak City now, right?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Well, maybe you should check out the Ruins of Alph first."

"Oh, yeah! I was planning to go there, since I missed it the first time I passed by," Marina recalled, partly to herself. The pink-haired teen's gaze turned deeply thoughtful.

"And also..."

"Also?"

"You see," Whitney wiggled her fingers in Marina's face, "On Fridays, they say a mysterious Pokémon has been appearing at the lake in the Ruins of Alph."

"Ooh," Marina smiled and mimicked her hand movements, "Creepy. Is that true?"

"Who knows? Today's Friday, so you probably won't make it to the Ruins today even if you wanted to. But next Friday is Halloween." She faked a shiver, frowning dramatically. "Think about it! It'd be pretty spooky going there on Halloween night, huh?"

"I guess so. I can't believe it's almost Halloween. Time just flies!"

With another slick and confident smile, Whitney winked. "It sure does! Well, I guess this is where we say our goodbyes. Make sure you drop by the next time you're in the area! Later!" She gave her a friendly wave and ran into the Gym before Marina could utter her own farewell.

"Oh! …Bye!" she said anyway. She stared through the glass doors, holding her egg in both her arms. She turned toward the main street and entered the crowd of people, facing the northward path leading to Route 35—a path she would soon take. She shivered as a chilly wind blew past her.

"Mysterious Pokémon, huh?" A small smile found its way on her face. "Sounds mysterious, but exciting. I'm definitely going to the Ruins now!"