Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with Pokémon or any of its parent companies. I am merely a humble storyteller. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this journey with me.

Note: I am English, so some of the wordings, spellings, and expressions will be those commonly used in England.

Chapter Forty-Seven: Behind the Poster

So, this is what it was like to fly? Granted, it was not a Pokémon actually using Fly, but it was close, perhaps even better from a certain point of view. Red gazed at the streets of Celadon below, watching its citizens point up at him in amazement (including certain people dressed in black with a particular letter emblazoned across their chests), holding onto the straps that stopped him from having a nasty fall onto the concrete.

If he was being honest with himself, then he would have said that he wanted to pilot the vehicle – as a matter of fact, he had insisted upon it – but Pikachu shouted him down, announcing his desire to be in control of it. With a bit of a grumble, Red relented, and Pikachu instead took the lessons from the person Red and Leaf encountered on the way to the Game Corner, a lady who went by the name of Willa, who had expressed her shock that a Pokémon desired and showed the capabilities to learn, as she called it, Sky Dash, a Secret Technique more inclined towards humans, at least humans who wanted to try it, that is, which was none whatsoever. And her surprise became greater when Eevee piped up, not ready to let Pikachu have all the fun.

"These Pokémon share my inspiration!" Willa exclaimed. "What kind of Pikachu and Eevee are they? These amazing creatures can't possibly be like any other of their species!"

She had a point. How many Pikachu and Eevee would have the ability to pilot a vehicle, dubbed quite ingeniously the 'Sky Dasher'. Or maybe it was more uninspired than ingenious? There seems to be no difference nowadays.

And what a machine the Sky Dasher was, albeit an odd-looking thing. It consisted of a comfy black seat, a steering wheel (as mentioned above), safety straps (as also mentioned above), and attached to said straps were balloons, which someone sensible might come along and say 'Surely balloons wouldn't be enough to allow the thing to fly without bursting as soon as they took off'. Other people would question how one would be able to use it to travel without an engine nor a flame, and someone else would spiritedly reply 'That's why it's called a SECRET Technique', when, in reality, they had no clue themselves.

Get the hint? Great. Let's continue.

Far too soon, Red and Leaf's flight came to an end, and their respective Pokémon landed neatly on the ground, although the word 'neatly' would probably not be the best to describe Pikachu's; the Sky Dasher almost toppled over and Red fell off it.

"Man, that was so cool!" Red gushed. "I've never, ever flown like that before. I mean, I had to take an aeroplane to visit my grandpa last year, but this was something else! Leaf, is this what it's like when you fly on Fearow?"

"A little, yeah," Leaf said. "Except Fearow's a bit faster. But this is still amazing!"

"I'm glad you think so," Willa said, pulling out two tiny electronic pads and pressing her finger against them. The Sky Dancers were absorbed into the pads via a red light, much like Pokémon were when called back to their Poké Balls.

"Whoa," Red and Leaf said together.

"It's the same technology used in Poké Balls," Willa said, confirming the above comparison as fact. "Took a long time to perfect it. And you know what? Your Pikachu and Eevee are the only ones who have flown so efficiently; even I'm not that proficient, and I created it! Granted, only a precious few before have volunteered to try it provided we were over a body of water, of course." She shook her head sadly. "So many annoyed Tentacool."

"Do you think more people or Pokémon will be able to do this Secret Technique in the future?" Leaf asked eagerly.

"Possibly. But this isn't just technology and knowing which buttons to press. Maybe there will be only a few people – and now Pokémon – who'll be capable of Sky Dashing, you know, have the skills and intuition to handle it like with Chop Down and Light Up. Secret Techniques aren't meant to be easy to learn, despite what your Pokémon did today."

"Well, thank you for showing us Sky Dash," Leaf said. "It wasn't something Red or I expected today, but I'm glad we did. We haven't been Trainers long, and we've already seen so much." She nudged Red. "Right?"

Red nodded. "Totally. There's so much it's probably going to make my head explode." He stared wistfully into the sky. "I can't wait for Charmeleon to evolve. Then we'll fly everywhere."

"Well, maybe I can ease the wait," Willa said. She handed the pads to them. "These are yours now."

"Whoa, seriously?" Red said.

"We can't," Leaf added.

"Your Pokémon have shown an aptitude for Sky Dash, so it would be cruel not to allow them to utilise it more," Willa said, forcing the pads into their hands. "Besides, it gives you more options for traversing Kanto. Not to mention, it is a Secret Technique and they need to be shared, contrary to the name. Even if not many are capable of learning and perfecting them, that is still better than no one doing so, right?"

Thus, Red and Leaf's Pikachu and Eevee learned the Secret Technique Sky Dash.

However, that was not the end of their day.

o~o~o~o~o

The Celadon Game Corner was just down the street, and, as they walked there happily discussing how helpful Sky Dash could be, it soon happened upon them, a building adorned with seizure-inducing, multicoloured lights and obnoxious music blaring from within.

"Is this meant to be fun?" Leaf said. "It makes my head hurt just looking at it."

"Er… Erika said it would be," Red said warily. "I'm going to be honest, I'd rather be playing around with Sky Dash than this. More than that, I'd rather be on my way to Fuchsia already." He looked it up and down. "Can't we just say we went inside? It's not like she's going to know. I'm not planning on going back to her Gym. Are you, Leaf?"

"No," Leaf said. "But we're here, and we might as well go in. And maybe we'll get lucky and win some Pokémon. Urgh, that still sounds dirty to me. Seriously, games of chance to win Pokémon while spending a fortune. No thanks."

With more than a degree of reluctance, the duo and their Pokémon walked through the automatic doors and into a place where its very atmosphere seemed to bombard them from all sides, practically a physical force trying to push them back outside. Bracing themselves, the two young Trainers fought back and conquered the wall of noise and lights, successfully entering the Celadon Game Corner.

"Great," Leaf said loudly as she and Red delved deeper into the games and gambling denizen. "What do we do now? Oh, Eevee, come here. Into my arms, please."

"On my shoulder, Pikachu," Red said, taking a leaf from… Leaf's book. "Um, let's find a game to play. Uh, how about over there," he suggested, pointing at a section of the Game Corner where people were smoking and knocking back drinks that may or may not have been fruit juice. It was not fruit juice.

"Er… it says you have to be over eighteen," Leaf said.

Red frowned. "Huh? Oh well, there must be something fun for us to do here."

Taking each other's hand, their Pokémon safely on their person, the children wandered further into the Game Corner.

o~o~o~o~o

Giovanni groaned as he took the device off his head, the blasted thing fighting to continue hugging him for a while longer. An intriguing invention – not surprising considering it was a Silph Company product – that was well worth Team Rocket liberating it from its creators. Not something he would personally use, but an item they could reverse engineer and produce copious amounts of for his underlings.

But there was more he craved, more that the Silph Company could provide to give Team Rocket a stranglehold on Kanto.

Then the world.

Oh, how he needed it. It was one part of their grand plan, but it was so close to being in their grasp, if their intel was to be believed.

But for now, Team Rocket would go about their other endeavours, slowly and surely building their power and money, which is all anyone needs, right?

Giovanni ran his hand over his head and paused. He pulled out a mirror from his desk and scowled at his now askew hair.

"I like this even less than I already did," he muttered, reaching into his desk drawer for a comb.

o~o~o~o~o

"I got three Diglett. Okay, that's fifteen coins."

"You should be trying for the sevens. You'd get three-hundred, then."

"The sevens are harder to get."

"But you're getting the Diglett and Poliwag often enough. Try it."

"Do you want to try again, Red?"

"No way. I'm not playing this again. Didn't get so much as a single coin back, did I?"

Leaf rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the slot machine in front of her. Pikachu watched the reels spin, hypnotised. Eevee was lying down, her head rested on her paws, yawning every now and again.

Leaf pulled the lever. This time she got an 'R', an 'R' whose design was disturbingly familiar to her. But that would have been silly, right?

Two more 'R's followed the first one.

"I got a replay," Leaf said. "Saves an extra coin or three." Her foot nudged the Coin Case by her feet, which they quickly filled with coins thanks to the generosity of the Game Corner patrons and finding some on the floor. Red also found a couple of enhancements called a PP Up and a PP Max. He gave the latter to Leaf.

"How long are we going to keep doing this for?" Red whined.

"I want to see if I can get enough to win an Abra," Leaf said.

"Can't you capture one in the wild?"

"I can, but I slept on it last night and I really want a Prize Pokémon."

"How come?"

"I want to take it to a Pokémon Centre and see how healthy it is. If it's not, then it might have been mistreated." Leaf thumped the machine. "Reminds me of the Magikarp Salesman."

"I get you," Red said. "Okay, I'll take some coins and try my luck again. Maybe I can do bingo. Mum said she used to like playing that. Okay, that's what I'm going for. Pikachu, let's go play bingo!"

Pikachu ignored him, still transfixed by the spinning reels.

"Er, Pikachu? Time to go."

Pikachu waved him away.

Red slumped his shoulders. "Do you want to stay here with Leaf and Eevee?"

Actions speak louder than words, and Pikachu proved that by hopping onto Leaf's lap. Eevee, on the other hand, looking ever so bored, padded over to Red and whined at him.

"You want to come with me?" Red said, taken aback. "Bored, huh? Leaf, is that all right?"

"Sorry?" Leaf said, taking her eyes away from the slot machine for a second. "Oh, yeah. Eevee, stay close to Red, okay?"

"And don't run off, Pikachu," Red said, to which Pikachu replied with a shrug.

There was much more to see in the Game Corner, although Red would admit he was far from impressed. Oh, why could he not have spent the day Sky Dashing across Celadon? Maybe they could have even used it to get to Fuchsia faster? Or maybe not for how much would he miss if he simply flew everywhere? If he could have done that from before, he would have missed Pokémon like Clefairy and Lo. It could be argued that he would not have run into Team Rocket, but we shall disregard that. How does that sound?

Uh oh. It appeared as though a bingo game was already being played. Now, logic dictated that Red wait until this one finished so he could be ready for the next one, but who could wait those achingly long ten minutes? It was unfathomable! But what else was there for Red to do? Wait, what else did Erika recommend? Was it posters she mentioned? Or was it posers? Well, if you asked Red, he would rather enjoy the former, for to find enjoyment from the latter would be an impossibility, thus decided that posters were indeed what Erika said. Why she recommended posters, Red did not know, but he and Eevee found themselves studying the many posters around the Game Corner.

There was the obvious advertising for future events in the Game Corner; noticeably embellished photos of the Prize Pokémon and TMs that could be won; pictures of a stadium with the words 'Kanto Pokémon League (insert year here)' that made Red giddy; and there was even one that mentioned another Game Corner in Veilstone City in Sinnoh.

There were more posters than first thought, and Red chattered with Eevee and they had a surprisingly good time simply looking at them. Even bingo left his mind.

However, each new poster they found took them further and further away from the rest of the Game Corner's patrons, until they were so far all the noise became a mere muffled din, which Red did not realise. What he did realise, however, was a tiny, almost unnoticeable insignia that appeared on many of the posters, if not all of them: a red 'R'. At first, he chalked it off as a coincidence, but even he could not live in that world of bliss and ignorance for long, not when that prickly sense of danger he had suffered before sidled up to keep him company.

"I don't like this, Eevee," he whispered to the Pokémon. "Not one jot."

Eevee moaned, her eyes darting to the way they came, wishing for her Trainer.

"Hey! What are you doing here!"

Red jumped, and Eevee instinctively growled; a man in that dreaded Team Rocket garb appeared from around a corner. He stomped up to them.

"No one's allowed here," he said. "I'm guarding this poster, you see."

Red gazed at the poster in question. "This one? What's so special about it? I mean, I'd like to see a movie with a killer Mr. Mime, but apart from that, it's just a poster."

The Rocket did not answer, instead eyeing Red suspiciously. "Hey, wait a minute? I've seen your face before. Are you that Red boy who's causing us trouble? Doesn't he keep a Pokémon outside of its Poké Ball too?"

"Er, no," Red said, panic rising up within him. Or maybe that was his breakfast. Or maybe both.

"Let me check," the Rocket Grunt said, pulling out a notebook. "It says here that this Red boy is around eleven years old – like you – tends to wear a cap – like you – and has a… has a…" He peered closer at Eevee. "Oh. Oh! It can't be you. You've got an Eevee. It says Pikachu here."

Was the Grunt really that stupid? "Yep!" Red said, hardly daring to believe it because, while battles were the best things since sliced bread, he did not fancy being overwhelmed by swarms of Rockets at that moment. "You see, not me. I don't have a Pikachu, I'm actually twelve years old, and I've never, ever, EVER been to Mt. Moon, where I battled loads of you guys. No siree."

"Well, no problem here, then," the Grunt said, flipping his notebook shut. "You see, there's a bunch of kids who's been causing us trouble, and we've got to deal with them."

"Really?"

"Yep." The Grunt suddenly bounced and clenched his hands, his bottom lip becoming a chew toy. "Er… considering you're not a threat, I'm going to the toilet. Don't tell anyone, and DON'T look behind the poster. Got it?"

"Got it," Red said.

Red checked behind the poster once the Grunt disappeared.

"Look at this, Eevee," Red said. "A button. Better press it! I mean, who wouldn't?"

The button was stiff, enough that Red had to put some force into his palm. With a 'chink' and a 'woosh' and a 'clunk', a nearby wall slid away, revealing a staircase.

But where did the staircase lead? To a place under the control of Team Rocket no doubt.

Now, this would be the point where a normal person's common sense would kick in, telling them to press the button again, close the secret door, and go back and forget about everything. Sounds about right, doesn't it? It was a pity, then, that Red's own common sense seemed to have gone on vacation, which can be looked at as a good thing as this means the whole venture into the Game Corner will no longer be pointless and we can have a bit more excitement in the story. Eevee did yap at Red, trying to act as the angel on his shoulder and try and get him to return to Leaf, but he was just not having it. If Team Rocket were indeed underneath the Game Corner, then maybe they had Lo's friends and family too. Maybe this was a stroke of luck, but we all have to take advantage of that when it comes up, don't we?

Red disappeared down the staircase. Looking between the staircase and the way back, Eevee pawed the floor nervously and followed the boy, taking a second to jump up at another button at the top of the staircase because it was still office hours for her common sense.

The door sealed itself, becoming a wall once more.

o~o~o~o~o

"I don't know where they can be," Leaf said to Pikachu, around fifteen minutes later. "They're not playing bingo. Maybe they're waiting outside?"

Pikachu shook his head and sniffed the floor, trying to discern his Trainer's scent from the many others of the Game Corner. He scurried away, nose millimetres from the carpet, Leaf shouting ahead at the patrons to not step on him.

Where on earth was Red and Eevee? It was typical of Red to go off on his own, but all he had to do was play bingo as he said he was going to or just wait by her side as she finished playing the slots. Now it was a different game called 'Find Red and Eevee' when all she wanted to do was go to the Pokémon Centre and study her new Abra.

"Where do you think they went off to, Pikachu?" Leaf asked the bobbing lightning-shaped tail as they hurried past a pinball machine with 'Pokémon Pinball' emblazoned across the top. "Huh? Red would've loved pinball. Probably didn't see it."

The sniffing rodent led Leaf around the Game Corner until they arrived at a certain poster, and in front of that certain poster was a certain fellow wearing a certain uniform. If your memory is not that bad, then you may possibly recall that this is the poster that hid the button that opened a secret way downstairs to an underground lair guarded by a Team Rocket Grunt. I know, it is difficult to remember something that occurred so long ago.

"No one's allowed here," he said. "I'm guarding this poster, you see."

Leaf gazed at the poster in question. "This one. What's so special about it? I mean, I'd like to see a movie with a killer Mr. Mime, but apart from that, it's just a poster."

The Rocket did not answer, instead eyeing Leaf suspiciously. "Hey, wait a minute? I've seen your face before. Are you that Leaf girl who's causing us trouble? Doesn't she keep a Pokémon outside of its Poké Ball too?"

"Er, no," Leaf said, getting subtle vibes from the man that he was one egg short of an Exeggcute.

"Let me check," the Rocket Grunt said, pulling out a notebook. "It says here that this Leaf girl is around eleven years old – like you – and has a… has a…" He peered closer at Pikachu. "Oh. Oh! It can't be you. You've got a Pikachu. It says Eevee here."

So the Grunt was as dumb as implied! "Yep," Leaf said. "I'm not who you think I am. I've never, ever, EVER encountered Team Rocket before."

"Well, no problem here, then," the Grunt said. "You see, there's a bunch of kids who's been causing us trouble, and we've got to deal with them."

"Really?"

"Yeah," the Grunt said. He frowned. "Feels like a conversation I had with a boy before, a lad who came by with an Eevee."

"Oh," Leaf said, a sliver of dread in her gut.

"Yeah, he must've left already," the Grunt said, bouncing and clenching his hands, his bottom lip becoming a chew toy. "Er… considering you're not a threat, I'm going to the toilet – bladder problems, you know. Just don't tell anyone, and DON'T look behind the poster. Got it?"

"Got it," Leaf said.

And like Red, she found the button, pressed it, and discovered the secret passage.

"Did they go down there?" Leaf asked.

Pikachu took a great, big sniff. He nodded.

Leaf inhaled and exhaled, psyching herself up. "Well, maybe there won't be many Team Rocket members to deal with." She descended the stairs, common sense telling her to push another button and close the door behind her. "And hopefully not any Executives."