Author's Notes: Yeah, so here's Goldenrod… Whitney's as obnoxious as ever, ha.

Chapter Thirty Six: Vs Clefairy II!

"Ugh. I forgot how far Goldenrod is from Mahogany…"

Kin grumbled to himself as he, Gin, and Suishou pushed through some undergrowth on the outskirts of Ecruteak City. It had taken them a few hours to get from Mahogany to there, and they'd promptly turned south to Goldenrod City without so much as a stop at Ecruteak's Pokémon Center. To be quite honest, Kin's feet were starting to hurt, but there was no way he was going to complain about that too with the way Gin was glaring at him.

"You're one of the ones who wanted to come, so stuff it. Besides, there's a shortcut that goes around the National Park which should save us a few minutes," she snapped.

"Yeah, we took that before, right?" Suishou asked brightly.

"Why am I the only one who didn't know that?"

"Because you're an idiot. Now hurry up."

Kin sighed, reluctantly speeding up in an attempt to keep up with Gin.

"What is with this place? Shouldn't there be more people hanging out here?"

The trio had arrived on the outskirts of Goldenrod a few hours later, but they could already tell that something was wrong. Despite the fact that they were technically outside of city limits, there weren't very many trainers or tourists scurrying around. Gin rolled her eyes as Kin asked the question.

"Usually, yes. However, I'm willing to bet that this thing that Whitney complained about is simply some kind of exorbitant price raise at the Department Store, and so everyone's shopping back in Ecruteak or something."

"I… I hope so," Suishou said nervously.

Gin shrugged and started walking again. Kin and Suishou followed her rather tensely, and Gin actually didn't blame them for being nervous. The farther they walked, the weirder things got; all of the apartments and other buildings they passed were dark, despite the fact that it was mid-day.

After following a few turns in the sidewalk, they arrived in front of the gym, and Gin reluctantly knocked on the door. After several moments, there was no answer, and Gin impatiently knocked again.

"Where is she?"

"Gin, look… the lights are out here, too," Suishou gulped.

Taking a step back, Gin looked more closely at the gym and saw that Suishou was right. Sighing, she reached out and tried the door handle, and after jiggling it for a few seconds, she realized it was locked.

"Well, this is just ridiculous," she announced. "We come here to see what's up with Whitney and she doesn't even answer…"

"Well, we're here already, so let's find her," Kin grinned.

"You just want to talk to her… Never mind."

Frowning, Gin stepped away from the gym and started walking away. As she did, she folded her arms and looked around furtively; there wasn't even anyone outside, but she couldn't be too careful.

"Could you not look around all suspiciously? It's making things even creepier," Kin complained.

"Oh, stow it! Hey… Wait a second…"

"Are you even paying attention to me?"

Gin snorted; Kin should've been able to tell she couldn't care less at the moment. The three of them had just walked past the Radio Tower, and it was the only building they'd seen so far that had lit-up windows. Picking up her pace a bit, she beckoned to Kin and Suishou.

"Come on, guys, I think I'm on to something."

When they arrived at the Radio Tower, its metal door was swinging loosely off its hinges, and the bit of the inside that they could see was a mess; a potted plant was knocked over, as were a few stools and visitor's benches. Gin heard Suishou gasp audibly as they walked inside, and she narrowed her eyes as she looked around the familiar lobby. A few windows were broken, nobody was behind the front desk, and the carpet was torn in several places. As much as Gin had used to visit the Radio Tower, it now looked unfamiliar to her.

There was one other thing that was out of place that Gin noticed… In front of the stairs leading to the second floor, a small Clefairy was nervously hopping around a wiggling sack. Frowning, Gin jogged over to it, and Clefairy looked hopeful as the gray-haired girl untied the rope around the top of the bag.

"Wh-What is it, Gin?" Suishou questioned, kneeling down beside her.

Gin grunted as she pulled the edges of the sack down, and a blur of pink crawled out of it. A battered Whitney sat in front of her a few seconds later, sniffling as she curled her legs up in front of her.

"M-Mr. Gin?" Whitney blinked. "Did Pryce tell you to come?"

Ignoring Kin's snickering, Gin rolled her eyes and answered Whitney. "Yeah. Look, what the heck is up with this place, anyway?"

"Um… Like, these really weird guys in black came here… They were threatening the people here and stuff… Nobody's come out of their houses since then and when I came here they tied me up."

"Listen, this is important. Did they have big red R's on their uniforms?" Gin continued.

"Yeah, I think so. You're not gonna go after them, are you?"

"We are, duh. You want them to take over this place?"

"Well, um… I don't even really know who they are. And they locked themselves in, too. There's sliding door thing on the third floor, but I have a key to it."

"Do you still have it?" Suishou asked hopefully.

"Yep!" Whitney grinned. "Clefairy managed to take it before they got me. Right, Clefairy?"

"Clef!"

Clefairy darted over to one of the rips in the carpet, and after fiddling with it for a few seconds, pulled a card key out from under it. The Normal-Type then hurried back over to Whitney and handed the card key to her. Whitney looked up at Gin as she handed her the key.

"Uh, Mr. Gin, are you, like, really sure about this?"

"Yes, I am. Now go back to the gym and go play with your makeup or something, okay?"

"Okay!"

Seemingly oblivious to the seriousness of the situation, Whitney managed to stagger to her feet and cheerfully waved as she and Clefairy headed to the front door of the Tower. Sighing, Gin slid the key into her pocket and turned toward the stairs.

"Well, it looks like we get to knock around Team Rocket a bit. But what could they want here…"

"Mr. Gin?" Kin chuckled.

"Let me remind you that you were under the same impression until about a week or two ago. Now come along, kiddo, we've got to hurry up if we want to get those Rockets out of here any time soon."

"Okay!"

"Huh? W-Wait!"

Once again, Kin found himself scrambling after Gin and feeling ignored, despite the fact that he knew they had something important to do.