I was ready literally for anything. For victory, for defeat, for pain… for death. Again. Although I would never just give up and let them kill me that easily. No, of course, not. That`s not my style. Why should I? Maybe my life isn`t as pleasant as I would like it to be, but I don`t ever think about surrendering myself to the crone Death.

I had a plan. Well, actually I had four of them, but the basic three don`t count. It was a great plan that I was inventing for so long… The whole ten seconds before the shot. And it was brilliant, one of my best.

But the very sudden appearance of smoke veil in the room covering everything distracted me. I didn`t feel any new holes in my body – I guess they missed. Or they were shooting not at me…

"Here, come on!" A girl`s voice called to us. Damn, Leaf was there so unexpectedly! But still very convenient that she managed to get here in time to save us.

I felt her grip on my wrist that pulled me forward. Too bad it was my triple bitten hand, so such movement made my body react with extreme pain, but I followed her despite all that.

I heard a couple of good punches behind us. Looks like Erika broke free from her guardians and slowly approached us.

"Come back, Ivysaur!" He shouted and, judging by the sound of pokeball beam, succeeded in returning her pokemon in this smoke veil.

"Shoot them! Shoot them, idiots!" Giovanni roared fiercely. His grunts hurried to reload the guns and shoot at us through the smokescreen. This thing covered us pretty good, so nothing got at us. At least, not at me.

But my sudden pain in the right leg made me nearly fell down. Leaf managed to keep me, but my weight was too much for a young girl like her.

"Erika, help me!" She called out to the gym leader, and soon I felt how another pair of hands grabbed me from the right and dragged forward. Additional pain appeared in the right side of my body. And I suddenly caught myself on a thought that we`re all alive. Being alive is so cool. And we even have the chance to stay alive for a little longer!

But that seemed too much for my fate, and very soon after the next shot I felt the familiar warmth in my right shoulder. Too bad it was caused by bullet.

The pain struck after some time, making me clench my teeth as I can for keep the silence. Maybe I did this too strong and accidentally bit my tongue… Some more pain for me.

That was too much… I was all wet from my own blood, and could barely see anything… The vision was in mist… And the strongest fatigue came immediately. I tried to stay conscious as long as I can and help girls with moving my body, but that was the end. My HP reached zero and the darkness devoured my vision.


I opened my eyes in an unfamiliar place. It looked… peaceful enough for now. The room filled with different exotic flowers, pictures of grass-type pokemon. I think I know where I am now.

Something was tightly wrapped around my limbs and chest… Soon I realized I was all covered with bandages. I tried to move my fingers, and this soon became possible. That`s a good sign for now I suppose.

This was so unusual for me I even felt uncomfortable here. Large soft bed felt like a rock now, but I`m sure that is just my nerves cheating on me. At least, I can feel something. Let`s try moving something more difficult to move. A head, maybe?

Yes, it still works. I managed to raise my head and looked at myself. Well, I couldn`t see much under the blanket. But as I turned my head on the right, I noticed a little Paras on the table. This thing was chewing on a flower in the vase and squeaked in fear when noticed that I`m awake.

The pokemon jumped off the table and rushed to another room.

What`s a bug pokemon doing here? I already guessed this could be Erika`s home, but seeing a bug pokemon in a house where grass-types are valued the most… Well, maybe I`m just overreacting now.

"Oh, you`re awake!" Erika appeared in the doors when Paras notified her about me. She was dressed in her casual clothes that looked… very nice on her. This woman looks attractive in any clothes, I think.

"Yeah…" I quietly wheezed and laid my head down on the pillow. After some seconds of complete silence a sudden thought stuck my mind like a knife.

Douchebag.

"Shit!" I shouted and immediately got up to sitting pose on the bed. The whole body reacted to such sharp movement in even more sharp pain, making me fell down again. This is definitely not a state I can easily move back to Lavender town in. But I`m still going to. To recover, I slowly wiped my face. "How long was I asleep?" I asked Erika when calmed down a little.

"A couple of hours… We barely got out of there. If not for your girlfriend, we would definitely die in there.

"She is not my girlfriend…" I replied with some irritation. "And where is she now?"

"Yeah! She already left and asked to give this box to you." Erika approached the table near me where Paras was sitting and moved the small box nearer.

I had to raise my head again to look better at the box. Nothing special about it, I have no idea what`s inside. What could be inside.

"What is it?"

"Something useful." Erika smiled and walked away from the table. I suspect her to open this box earlier.

"Crap… I need to go right now…" I tried to get up from the bed again and this time I managed to put down my legs. Which are bandaged too. I don`t remember them being bitten. But who knows what happened after I blacked out?

"No-no-no! You`re still bleeding, damn it!" Erika ran to me and gently pushed back. I leaned on my hands to resist her. This doubled the pain, though.

"You don`t understand, woman!" I overpowered her and kept my position on the bed edge and finally looked at her seriously. "Right now the group of Team Rocket grunts holds one man hostage in Pokemon tower of Lavender! And my old friend keeps them inside from escaping. For the third damn day in a row! I need to get back until they are all dead…"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Erika was extremely shocked by this. The surprises keep coming while I`m near.

"Exactly what I just said! They are surrounded by a bunch of ghosts and… well, maybe, they are all dead already. I really expected to return back sooner. There`s one… special ghost in that tower. Very dangerous and invincible ghost. To defeat it and get to the top, we need the…" I quickly remembered where the heck Silph Scope could be now and even panicked that it could be somehow managed in all that chaos we`ve been through. "Silph Scope! The device I gave you! Is it all right?"

"Yes, yes. It was right that you gave it to me." Erika suddenly stopped and looked at me very sadly. "Do you… remember what happened there?" She asked me carefully.

Too bad that I actually remember everything. How it began, how it ended… No, not how it ended. How I ended. That`s all. So I closed my eyes and hid the face behind palms.

"Yes, I do." I seriously replied to her. This night made me do the wrong decisions. I will remember it forever.

"You defeated the Team Rocket boss, Giovanni himself!" Erika tried to express the cheer in this sentence, but it didn`t work.

I stood from the bed and stayed on place until the darkness in eyes disappears. Then I turned to Erika.

"No, I didn`t."

Through the door I could see my clothes drying. Looks like Erika washed them from the blood for me… She didn`t succeed in it too much, as I can see. I headed there, trying to ignore extreme pain in all my limbs… In the whole body. Especially in my right shoulder that was so tightly bandaged I even thought that just a bullet wouldn`t hurt that much.

"But why?" Erika rushed to me and helped to keep balance. Interesting how strong the changes are when you actually see them. On our first encounter she looked as spoiled and arrogant bitch. But now she opened another side of her soul to me. A side I would unlikely expect from people. "You have actually defeated him! All his pokemon, in a battle. You won!"

Unfortunately, I thought completely the other way.

"No, I did not!" I shouted at her.

She made a step back, startled by my sudden reaction, but still didn`t let me go. I stopped and looked away.

"Sorry…" I guiltily apologized for yelling at her. "I cheated. In a battle against a criminal boss I cheated…" Saying this made me feel something… disgusting right in my mouth. Like the words themselves have this horrible taste. "Giovanni battled fairly. And I… I was too scared. I was ready to take the hit by myself to defeat him. And all that was for NOTHING…"

I leaned on the door and made a deep breath.

"His pokemon are really strong… No matter if they fight for him willingly or not. They all are so powerful and… hardy. And this is not a victory. This is a complete defeat. Not just because of battle."

I slowly approached my drying clothes and tried to pull my pants on. That turned out to be much harder than I expected when my hands shake so much. But Erika grudgingly helped me.

"Did you take the bullet out?" I carefully asked woman.

"Yeah… My Bellsprout could suck it out." She answered imperturbably. But for me this sounded really, really strange. However, I couldn`t think about it.

"And what about my pokemon?"

"Don`t worry, I have sent them to Pokemon Center." She replied and we finally managed to get the wet pants on me. "Are you sure it`s all right to walk around in these wet clothes?"

"If I catch a cold, I`ll force myself to stop this madness and have some rest for a while. But not earlier than I deal with the Lavender problem." Actually I already felt myself pretty damn horrible, and let myself out a quiet cough. Just now I noticed how… sleepy Erika looks. Tired, too. "How long did YOU sleep today?" I asked her with care.

"I did not." She replied and at this exact moment she wanted to yawn, but put all her effort for not to. She was overdoing herself too.

"Then go. I can do this myself." And right now my tired and wounded hand just had to shake so much I dropped the shirt in the floor.

"No, you can`t." Woman strictly replied to me and picked the shirt up from floor. This wasn`t that easy for her too in a condition like this. "Looks like I have to help you in your Lavender town mission too."

The thought of her following me there literally thundered in my head. This is not a good idea.

"Are you sure?" I seriously asked her. "I suspected you working for Team Rocket. I used you to take lead on them. I blew up half of you gym just to make my crazy plan working. Then I stole your student`s car and put your life in danger! You were watching me battling there with a gun near your head… partly. Finally, I`m going to brusquely leave you and never return, and – if I still did not convince you – I will not thank you for all your help! Would you like to continue helping such bastard like me?"

She looked at me disapprovingly and shook her head.

"Of course, I will. The gym will be closed for a while, so I can have some fun. And you… seem to be an interesting man that can give it to me."

How insolent! This actually angered me quite a lot.

"This is not a vacation, woman! I`m heading to Lavender town! To battle ghosts! And the deadly criminal organization! If they are not defeated by the ghosts yet…" This reminded me again that I waste too much time now. "After a night like this you should now understand what it actually is. And stay as far as you can from me. For your own sake…"

"It`s too late, I afraid. Did you forget? They know about me knowing about them."

I guess she is right. They may start the hunt for both of us now.

"The point is… we actually know nothing about them now." I finished putting on my shirt and faced Erika. "Giovanni said they don`t need the Cerulean hideout anymore. They have moved to another base… And we don`t know where it is."

Unfortunately, I was right too. We lost all the trails now. And maybe I can find something in that Pokemon tower of Lavender. But I`m not sure in that. Giovanni was the person who could give me answers, no one else, so I have to find him.

"Where`s my greatcoat?" I surprisingly asked when didn`t find my best clothe in here.

"Oh, wait here. I`ll bring it now." Erika rushed to another room. I wonder if she tried to clean it too. With all my stuff inside. Including non-waterproof digital devices like PokeDex.

I looked at the box Leaf left for me. Why this girl was in such a hurry? Didn`t she wanted to give me some explanations about our salvation? Or… I don`t even know what. This girl is too strange for this world…

But I found some courage to approach her suspicious gift and take the box. A small note from Leaf was not very informative, but interesting.

'Greets! Hope you are all right. I have a present for you. Unfortunately, I couldn`t find that Silph-thingy you asked about – they all were suddenly sold and anyway it was too expensive. But I see you got it by yourself. So it`s good I had found something else – this will be your reward in the nomination 'The worst leaf stone joke'. Hope it helps your nasty Weepinbell. See ya!

The small box contained a green stone with leaf print on it.

The leaf stone.

How nice… Finally, something in this horrible morning could raise my mood a bit and made a little smile.

"Here it is…" Erika finally returned back into the room with my greatcoat. I had to make a sigh of relief – it wasn`t washed, just brushed a little. Some blood spots are still remaining, but that doesn`t bother me at all. A small patch was covering the place of shot. Erika did good job taking care of me.

"Hey, Erika. You`re a grass-type specialist… Weepinbells evolve with leaf stones, right?" I raised the gift for her to see.

"Yes and your Weepinbell can become a Victreebel, like mine." She proudly answered and smiled.

How interesting… Her Victreebel is awesome pokemon. Quite menacing and strong. My Harry could be even stronger. And even more menacing with his scar. What a great present from Leaf.

"It`s about time, Leaf… It`s about time…" I whispered and turned back to Erika. She helped me to put my greatcoat on.

"The day is quite warm today… Do you always wear it?" Woman asked curiously.

"Now… always!" I fixed my greatcoat, and just then threw the cap on my head, finishing my style. Just pokeballs are remained to the complete set. "Okay now… Just one question… It was nice to see you and everything… Where`s the exit?" I asked while checking all my pockets.

Erika resentfully put her hands on the waist.

"Now you will wait for me!" She said seriously.

"Oh, come on! You don`t want to go with me! You want to stay in your nice and safe house and DEFINITELY. NEVER. GO. WITH. ME! …to the damn ghost-filled tower."

I didn`t shout at her. At least, tried not to raise my voice. But Erika was just inflexible in her decisions.

"Nope, you don`t make me stay here!" She answered and headed to another room for packing. This reminded me of someone else I have seen not so long ago.

"Damn, you are as stubborn as Misty." I said irritated and waved at her.

Suddenly she stopped and looked back at me.

"Misty? Misty the gym leader?" Erika surprisingly asked.

"Yeah. She`s a good friend of mine. Do you know her?" I asked even more surprised in reply. Maybe, I shouldn`t be too surprised about that.

"Of course, I know! We gym leaders meet each other very often. We organize the experience exchanges, battle everyone and just… drink. Well, almost everyone. The gym leader of Viridian City never appeared on our little parties. He`s always busy, so I haven`t even seen him. It`s not just hard to beat him… Catching him in the gym is no easy thing too!"

"So, that`s why I couldn`t challenge him right when I was there." Now this makes a little bit more sense. But not much. And now I have even more questions.

"That`s why he is actually considered the strongest!" Erika shouted to me slowly leaving to another room.

Huh… The strongest. I wonder how my battle with him could go. If the Viridian City gym is a ground-type gym, then my Harry will be the best choice! Moment will be very good too as the ground moves don`t hit him at all. Maybe, my Dumpling will evolve into Charizard until that moment and he will be the flying type too! Maybe I could also add a water-type pokemon to my team… Yeah, that`s a nice idea.

But that doesn`t matter now. Erika is getting ready for our trip to Lavender town and changing. I could use the moment to escape now but… I don`t want to. I`m too tired for this, and the whole body still hurts. I really would like to have some rest after being beaten so much, but I don`t have time for this.

Maybe the time has come to call Douchebag and check how he is doing…

That was a hard decision for me. I don`t like talking to people through phones. I don`t like talking to people at all, actually. But I have to suppress my pride and make a call.

So I grabbed all my sacred stuff from the table nearby, sat on the nearest armchair and took the device with my shaking hands. At least, now they shake less. But the contact with cold steel of PokeDex made me feel pain again for some reason. Pressing the buttons on it too.

The most painful moment for me was when Douchebag didn`t answer my call. The painful to my heart, not my body. Something bad happened to Douchebag and I`m worried about him! Damn, I could never think that can be.

Erika finally changed and came out of her room dressed for a really long trip: long tight jeans, a blue shirt and a sun hat in pair with sunglasses. Maybe this suit actually looks very modest; it actually fit her very well. I suddenly caught myself on a thought that I evaluate woman clothes very often recently… I should stop that.

"So, let`s move out?" Erika asked me spiritedly.

"Yeah…" I got up from the armchair lazily. "But I warn you. If you will battle poison-type pokemon with your Tangela again, I will not cover her with my pokemon!"

"I have my own countermeasure to poison-types, thanks." The gym leader arrogantly replied to me. "Looks like the original Erika is returning… partly."

We left her house and proceeded to the car. Maybe from the side we looked like a pair of old pensioners on a walk, judging by our speed. Both were very tired, and sometimes Erika had to keep me from falling. The never-ending pain was coursing through my body, and I seem to get used to it slowly.

Finally we got to the car and somehow got in. My shoulder is just being torn apart by pain, but fortunately it was my right shoulder and not the left one. At least, I will be able to eat and write properly, when the shiver in left hand will disappear.

I noticed how horribly Erika feels now. She is definitely going to fall asleep while driving. That`s not good at all.

"Get out, woman. I`ll drive." I tried to move her gently from the driver seat.

"Why?" She could just ask.

"Look at yourself." I turned the rearview mirror to face her. "Terrible, yeah? Go have some sleep, I at least had two hours."

Surprisingly, now she didn`t argue. She just nodded wearily and exited the car to move to the back seat and lay down sleeping. That was… somehow charming. At least, now I can get some time in peace. From Erika, but not from the nasty thoughts. I still don`t like her following me in this extremely dangerous deal.

But firstly I need to visit PokeCenter and take my pokemon back. I hope they got at least some healing already; there is no time for the complete check-up. So using the battered map of mine I headed to my goal on the other side of Celadon City.

Many thoughts were crawling in my head. So many that the headache made even worse. I decided to focus just on one problem at a time – and that was suspicious behavior of Moment. He looks pretty… bad recently. Maybe, tired or something. But I notice this even right after the PokeCenter checks. Maybe next time when I will be able to give them a complete treatment, I ask the nurse.

The time moves too fast when you`re in a hurry. We reached the PokeCenter just by noon, and that`s a whole lot of time wasted. Maybe I just awfully orientate in this damn city…

Anyway, I quickly grabbed all my pokemon from the PC. I think, I have some potions if needed, but I guess the PokeCenter`s machines can at least heal the pokemon to full health in a couple of hours. Gym`s machines can do this in minutes.


And so we headed back to Lavender town. Our way passed through Routes 7 and 8 and the underground passage. Saffron City is still cordoned by the police that blocks the way in and out. Someday I find out what they`re hiding there.

But not today. Today I`m turning to the underground, relive again all memories about that stupid Caesar`s joke and hope not to experience that again. Strangely, this time nothing that bad happened. Maybe, my newest and weirdest gang member needs rest from the games sometimes too.

Soon after that Erika finally woke up. In total she slept nearly ten hours until we reached Route 7 and finally let ourselves stop by the café and have a quick meal. Looks like this woman is not used to such active life like mine. Well, it's her decision to follow me – and I will not even judge her if she runs away with the first sight of ghosts. I just fear that something bad can happen to her and I will have to save her. Before infiltrating the Team Rocket hideout I promised not to save her, but now the situation changed a little. Now we`re performing another saving operation, where each life matters.

Damn it… This is not good. This is SO not good. I wish I was alone…


How convenient it is that we reached Lavender town right near the midnight. We changed places for a while so I tried to have some sleep behind too, but I did not succeeded in that.

I immediately rushed to the Pokemon tower hoping to see Douchebag at least alive. The tower was now surrounded by cops and people. How long is this thing going? It`s been three days already. All this time the police tried to negotiate with the Rockets holding hostage, and it didn`t seem to have any luck.

"What`s going on? Where is Douchebag?" I questioned the random officer discomposedly.

"Who?... Stay back, we`re controlling the situation." He tried to move me away from the cordon, but it`s not that easy to move ME!

"The heck no. A friend of mine is inside here! And a Douchebag too!" I jumped over the police car blocking the path to Pokemon tower and ran towards it. Looks like Douchebag decided to deal with the ghost by himself and now I have to save that idiot too. I had to predict that.

"Stop right there!" The cops were shouting to me, but suddenly Erika followed me inside with a shout.

"I`m a gym leader! We can handle it!"

Surprisingly, no more questions from the officers were following. Maybe they actually believed that we can deal with situation by ourselves or they just didn`t care about two more people dying in the dark ghost tower.

Anyway, I returned back to this wretched place. Nothing good is going to happen here, but I`m ready this time. I squeezed the Silph Scope tight in my hand and rushed at full pelt inside the tower filled with determination…

Old man, I`m coming for you!