Two old Sages of Ecruteak City gathered at the base of Bell Tower. Looking upward, the bright shine of the summer moon reflected cooly on their faces.

"Is he still up there?" one asked to another. "It's been a week."

"He said not to have anyone bother him."

"But a week?"

"Leader Morty is looking for something. We must give him time."

"Hmm," the other man said, noncommittally. Maybe the gym leader had found permanent refuge on the top of the tower. Or he died. Either way, that meant more Kimono Girls for him. The other Sage must have read his thoughts, as he was quickly granted a stern bop on the head by the man's staff.

On the top of the tower, Morty sat on the tin roof of the structure. Eyes closed, he was deep in meditation as a group of Gastly apparated from the air. Swirling around the blond, the playful ghost-types danced in the moonlight and eventually broke the man from his concertation. Looking up apathetically, Morty's eyes focused on the Pokémon.

A few months earlier, he had received a call from the famous researcher Bill asking for his assistance in understanding more about the mysterious Conduits. The project involved everything from digging up thousand year old folklore to traveling to Unova to go through archives in the Nacrene Museum with Lenora and her husband Hawes. Though they were able to learn about the history of the foursome, the powers they possessed and their achievements, they were still missing one crucial bit of information.

What brought them back now?

Above him, the Gastly chuckled as they spun around his head, as if laughing at his own misfortune. Being a ghost-type trainer, Morty knew that the group was probably trying to badger him for attention. However, as they floated around each other, the Pokémon eventually formed a perfect alignment.

And then it hit him.

Jumping to his feet so quickly the Gastly dispersed, Morty reached into the back pocket to pull out his Pokégear and dialed a familiar number. After two rings, it finally connected.

"Bill?" he said, smiling when he heard the familiar voice on the other end of the call. "Yes, it's me. I think I figured it out...are they with you now?"


"Would you like something to drink?" Ghetsis asked his guest politely, already making his way to the tiny bar in his office. "Your usual vodka martini, perhaps?"

"Don't try the host game with me, Ghetsis," Lance said, his face stern as Ghetsis shrugged and poured himself a glass instead. "I'm here about Celadon City. What the hell were your people thinking?"

"Technically the Rockets were never really my people," the older man said between sips of his drink. "But I can see why that should concern you."

"The Game Corner was burned to the ground!"

"A minor causality."

"Rocket Enterprise is destroyed!"

"Better off for it," Ghetsis shrugged. "Capitalism is such a faulty economic theory, anyway."

"I've allowed you to get away with murder."

"Both figuratively and literally," the old man winked with a laugh, raising his glass up to the cheer the furious Champion. "Lance, my boy, you are missing the bigger picture here."

"Which is what exactly?" Lance growled, arms crossing over his chest. "Please enlighten me."

"We discovered the last Conduit," Ghetsis grinned, still holding his glass in the air like he was confused as to why his guest refused to celebrate. "We found them!"

Silence swept the room like a wave, the only sound coming from Ghetsis finishing off his drink. He returned the glass to his end table neatly, turning back to the dragon trainer who was still speechless.

"Exciting, yes?"

"Do you…" Lance said, his voice tiny, more than a whisper but smaller than his usual tone. "Do you have them here?"

"Here? Together?" Ghetsis gasped as he mocked surprise. "Oh, my dear boy, you can't just have two Conduits under one roof! Are you mad?"

There was a knock at the door and both men turned to see N slowly enter the study.

"Sorry to interrupt," the teen said, though his features showed no signs of remorse. "Sage Ryoku said you needed to speak with me?"

"Ah, perfect timing, my son," Ghetsis said, grinning as he beckoned the boy over with his hand. "Come here and tell Champion Lance how beneficial it is that the Conduits stay separated."

"All three of them?" N questioned, ignoring the look his father sent him from across the room.

"Three?" Lance echoed, looking aghast as he turned to Ghetsis. "You said there were only two!"

"A small miscalculation."

"It's an entire extra person!"

"One of the Conduits who we thought we killed is, in fact, still alive. She is a wonderful girl from Cerulean City who is surely my Conduit partner," N answered, his voice sounding bored as he continued to avoid his father's look. "Alongside her is a nuisance boy, though he has no partner and his powers are nothing compared to my own. Myself included means that all three Conduits are currently residing in your region."

"Ghetsis," Lance managed between gritted teeth and the old man glared at his son, annoyed.

"Natural Harmonia Gropius," Ghetsis hissed at his son, who looked even less interested. "Ensure our guest there is nothing to worry about."

"Of course," N answered, turning to the Champion. "Champion, unless you are worried about how myself, my partner and a third rogue Conduit will be interacting with your region, then you have nothing to fear."

Stunned Ghetsis stared at N, who simply sighed loudly. The fact that Lance's face was turning a deeper shade of red was less than interesting.

"If that is all, may I be excused?"

Lance roared in fury, turning to Ghetsis so quickly his cape flew behind him like flames on the tail of a Rapidash. Taking the front of the older man's cloak into his fists, he pulled Ghetsis towards his face.

"You have until the end of the month to figure this out," he hissed, eyes mad with rage. "Either tame the Conduits or I will tame you. Am I clear?"

As if borrowing his son's apathetic look, Ghetsis replied, "Crystal."

A few heavy seconds passed before Lance released his grip on the green-haired man, turning away and stomping through the study without another word. Moving out of his way, N watched as the Champion slammed the heavy door behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, N sighed as he looked towards his father.

"May I be excus-AUGH!"

Falling to the floor, N held onto his sides as he felt strong electrical waves run through him. Curling into a ball, he writhed in pain though was thankful he didn't bring any of his Pokémon to this meeting. Above him, he heard the loud footsteps of his father, holding the sphere that was sending the electrical current through his body.

"I won't forget that, son," Ghetsis growled as he slowly made his way across the room. "Just like I never forgot how much you hate electricity."

N's whimpering escalated into a full-fledged screams as another bolt shot through his body. Above him, Ghetsis caught the boy's chin under his boot, tilting the teen's pale face and green eyes to meet their match. Ghetsis would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy this.

"You think you're hot shit now that you've found her?" he hissed between gritted teeth.

N didn't reply, figuring the question was rhetorical. He assumed correctly as Ghetsis continued.

"Bring her to me."

"But I-AUGHH!"

"Did that sound like a request? No. It was an order," Ghetsis said, turning away from the boy as he made his way to his desk to call one of the Sage's to collect N from the door. He didn't have time to wait for him to recover. "And you should lose that smart mouth of yours before I get rid of it myself."


Being a Conduit meant Red could do a lot of cool things, like shoot lightning from his fingers and have high-level Pokémon obey him in battle. It also meant a lot of really uncool things, like being poked and prodded by Bill so much that his entire body was so sore that even his fingernails hurt. His fingernails.

It also meant that he hadn't be able to get any alone time with Blue to talk about what happened in the bathroom. Red was growing tired of this constant one-step-forward-nine-steps-back that had been happening ever since Pewter City. Blue had to have liked him back, she wouldn't have kissed him twice if that wasn't the case, right?

He still wasn't sure, but he knew having Blue dodge him whenever she had the chance was not the way to figure it out. It had been only two days since in the incident, but Red knew before any meals or daily "Bill Time" it was impossible to catch her. So, he figured camping in front of her bedroom door in the early hours of the morning was his only option. Yawning, he leaned his chin against the hand that rested on his knee. He woke up early just to catch her - Blue better appreciate it.

"Red!" he heard his mother call from down the stairs and he ignored her. He didn't feel like getting dragged into another one of Bill's weird research parties, and Blue still hadn't left her room. "Red! Are you up?"

"He's up," he heard Blue's voice and instantly he spun around to see the brunette had opened her door and was currently leaning against the doorframe looking amused. Looking down she whispered, "I know what you're doing."

"Then why are you avoiding me?" Red hissed back, jumping to his feet.

"Because I-"

"RED!" Misty called again and the teenager nearly ripped his hair out in frustration. "GET DOWN HERE."

"I'M COMING!" Red barked back, turning to the girl behind him. "Listen, we need to-"

"I know," she said, though by the look in her eyes Red could tell she was uncomfortable. "Let's go before your mom comes up here and drags us down."

Running a hand through his hair, he nodded and turned to make his way downstairs. As he neared the bottom of the steps, Red heard a familiar squeak as Pichu jumped from the floor to climb his leg and up to his shoulder. Smiling, he scratched the tiny electric-type under the chin as he turned to his mother. Next to her stood four women, two of which he recognized as Janine from the interment building and the gym leader Erika.

"Hello again, Red," Janine said with a bow. "It's good to see you again."

"Yeah, ditto," Red greeted, not sure if he was supposed to bow as well. "I'm happy you were able to get out of the Rocket building in one piece."

"I wouldn't have been able to if it weren't for your Pokémon," the gym leader said as she reached on to her belt and handed the teen two familiar balls. "Your Blastoise is especially well-cared for and obedient, you should be very proud."

"Thanks," he smiled, feeling better that he had his entire team back on his belt. Turning to the other two women, Red felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he looked at the short pink-haired woman and tall violet-haired women.

"Oh, you must be the gym leaders Whitney and Sabrina!" Blue gasped and the pink-haired woman seemed more than ecstatic to be recognized.

"Ah! Does that mean you're the ones who were able to free my Sabsy-bear from that nasty underground jail?" she cooed as she engulfed Blue is an overbearing hug. "Ohmigosh, I owe you guys, like, a zillion gym badges!"

"That's not how it works, Whitney," Misty said, seemingly holding back her annoyance with a good-natured smile. Next to her, Sabrina's mood seemed to similar to that of a Purrlion just hosed with a water gun attack. Red wasn't sure if that was due to anything he did, or if she just really hated the nickname 'Sabsy-bear.'

"Whitney, let the girl go," Sabrina said, her voice even. "She is a Conduit and has the potential to blow you and this entire mansion to pieces."

"Awww, but Sabsy she's just so cute," Whitney cooed, before sending a devilish look over her shoulder. "Unless you're uncomfortable with me being so close to other girls? Hmmm?"

Quickly growing flustered, Sabrina turned away from Whitney with a short 'tsk!' allowing the pink-haired girl to go back to pinching Blue's cheeks and asking what kind of shampoo she used. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Red turned to see the serene, smiling face of Erika.

"We haven't been formally introduced, but I am Erika, the Celadon City gym leader," she said, her voice as soothing as a spring breeze.

"Um, hi," Red said eloquently, extending his hand for an clumsy handshake with the woman. Since when did he pick up Green's awkwardness? "I'm...uh...Red."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, her face still tranquil. "I wanted to come and personally thank you and your friends for saving me at the Game Corner. Though my relationship with the Underground has never been ideal, I cannot express my gratitude enough."

"No problem," Red said as Pichu squeaked in agreement on his shoulder. "I'm happy we were able to help."

"Oh, is Ash here?" she asked, turning to Misty. "It has been a while since I've seen him. "

"He left this morning with Bill to meet with Morty in Ecruteak City," Misty explained.

"Oh," Erika said, as if Misty had just told her that she was never allowed to eat ice cream again for the rest of her life. "Will you be able to pass him my gratitude, Misty?"

"Of course," the redhead said with a smile. "Don't even worry about it, Erika."

"Thank you," she said, turning again to Red. "Before I forget, Red, there is something I wanted to give to you."

Red watched as Erika reached into her kimono, pulling out a leaf stone from her sleeve. Smiling, she handed the stone to Red, who stared at her as if she had grown a second head.

"Janine informed me that your Gloom was one of the Pokémon who kept her safe. I wasn't sure if you had any plans of evolving it in the future, but…"

"No, that's fine," Red said, nodding. "Thank you."

The Celadon leader titled her head to the side with a small giggle. Instantly, Red felt a swift kick to his ankle. Frowning he look to see that it was Blue, glaring at him through Whitney's embrace. He couldn't help but laugh.

Maybe there was some hope after all.

"Not that I don't like meeting new people," Blue said, managing to break away from Whitney's grasp long enough to speak. "But why are a third of Kanto's gym leaders here?"

"Because, Blue," Misty said with a wink. "We're going to unlock your full potential!"

"Full...potential?" the teens echoed in unison.

"Yup!" Whitney grinned, hands on her hips. "Since you guys are both Conduits, you take your powers from Pokémon. Who better than to understand what your powers are or what you can do than the regions top Pokémon trainers?"

Red tilted his head in acknowledgment, that did make some sense.

"Due to the high amount of dangerous attacks on gym leaders in the regions, the Pokémon League has suspended any gym battles," Janine explained. "That gives us time to stay and train with you until you have a better understanding of your powers and their capabilities."

"And it's not like space appears to be an issue," Sabrina added.

Red exchanged looks with Blue, feeling his stomach flip. On one side, Red understood just how upset this whole situation had made Blue. Part of him wondered how she would be able to handle the idea of maybe having to use her abilities for an ultimate end. On the other, he really couldn't think of any other option in figuring out more about their powers.

"So, whatdaya say?" Misty said, hands on her hips. "Are you guys up for some intense training?"

"Sure...I mean, it was between that and working on my tan," Blue said, turning away from Red's confused face with a smile. "When do we start?"

"Today," Sabrina answered, crossing her arms looking stern. "You'll be going to the White Room."