"Have you ever seen anything like it, Agatha?" Lance asked the old woman standing by his side.
The ghost trainer tilted her head curiously and watched the pokemon before nodding slowly. "I have. Once. It's the sort of thing a pokemon will do when it's become bonded with its trainer. The bond is so strong that, even when apart, trainer and pokemon can sense what's going on with each other. But," she glanced over at him, "it's the sort of bond that takes many years to encourage and grow."
Lance frowned, still as confused as before he'd asked the question. "This gyrados has never had a trainer, except for me..." his voice trailed off as he was reminded of how he had been able to acquire the strong dragon. But no, that boy, Ash, hadn't been its trainer. Just some kid trying to make friends with a raging beast. Shaking his head, he held up the pokemon's pokeball and recalled it. It disappeared inside with a flash of red light.
"Well, in any case I think I'm going to give it a rest from training," he said firmly, "it's been doing so well, it deserves one."
"Strange things are in the air," Agatha murmured, "Or so Gengar tells me."
Lance paused in the act of drawing out one of his other pokeballs and stared at the old woman. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure. So far, none of the other pokemon seem to have sensed it, except maybe that gyrados of yours."
The wisened face gazed off into the distance, as though seeing something that only she could. Lance shifted uncomfortably. The last time that had happened, there had been a shift in the elemental balance of the world so large it had caused it the weather all over the world to go haywire, snowing when it shouldn't, unexpected tornadoes, et cetera. And the wild pokemon had, as one taken off, charging towards a nearly forgotten island in the Orange Islands.
The League had been hardpressed to keep the damage of that time to a minimum as panicked trainers had overrun pokemon centers nearly as mobs. Then, after a day, everything had returned to normal, as though it hadn't happened. Lance and other members of his squad had been certain that Team Rocket was responsible for the incident, but like in many other events had no proof.
Agatha, Bruno and Prima though, had other ideas. Prima had shown him an old legend she had grown up with while living in the Orange Islands, a legend that he'd already learned of. Something about the titans of fire, ice and lightning fighting and a guardian and a chosen one. Lance was never one to put much stock into those things. He believed in the here and now, and his pokemon.
No, Team Rocket was somehow behind all that, and when Lance figured out how, that would just be one more piece of evidence in the already large stockpile.
Bringing himself back to the here and now, Lance noted that Agatha was already walking down the path towards the Plateau, and official League Headquarters. He took his hand from the pokeball at his waist and hurried to catch up with her surprisingly fast pace. Many trainers had failed miserably in battle with this old woman because of her seemingly staid ways.
"What does Gengar tell you, Agatha?" Lance asked, though he didn't really believe the woman could speak with the pokemon. Sure there was a bond there, but, humans and pokemon were two separate creations and the barriers that separated them were huge.
Unless you counted the baby that had hatched from an egg. Lance shook his head, pushing that thought aside. Again, Team Rocket had done something that was completely against nature with that one. But, the Rocket who had caught it, had died along with it--both falling to their deaths....
"That change is coming," Agatha supplied, bringing him out of the painful memory, "more than that, I couldn't figure out. I contacted my grandson in Ecruteak...he says the ghost pokemon there are acting the same."
Morty, the gym leader of the Ecruteak City Gym, was her grandson, and had seemed to be a stable indidual if you looked past his obsession with Ho-oh. Lance couldn't help but grin.
"Maybe it'll be a change for the better," he suggested, making Agatha raise her eyebrows. She knew he was a skeptic when it came to things like that. "Anyway, we've got to..." his voice trailed off as a young officer came running up the path.
John, having just barely passed his exams two weeks ago, panted as he stood in front of the two Elite Trainers. "Lance, Agatha," he said, still breathing heavily, "Team Rocket...Jewel Sisters...Hoenn..."
Lance froze at the words "Jewel Sisters", his insides filling with ice, as Agatha admonished the young man to slow down and catch his breath. Ruby and Sapphire were two of Team Rocket's top agents, but they hadn't been seen in fourteen years. Not since the death of the third member of their group, Diamond.
The Jewel Sisters, as they called themselves, weren't actually related. Ruby had hair of flaming red and always used fire types. Sapphire had deep blue eyes and always used water types. And Diamond....she had had platinum hair and used whatever type suited her at the time. They had been the most successful trio of thieves Team Rocket had ever produced, and the deadliest.
"....some kind of amulet, rumored to be connected in some way to the legendary bird Ho-oh," Lance came back to the present in time to hear John say.
Agatha was nodding. "Right, it'll probably be too late, but we'll send someone out there anyway, just to do an investigation."
"I'll go, Dragonite's the fastest flier we have that can carry a person," Lance offered, even though he had no clue where he was going. If the Jewel Sister's were involved, innocent people could get hurt--or killed. "Where to again?"
Agatha frowned and looked at him. "I think it would be best if..." she stopped at the look on his face and sighed. "Very well, it's in the Hoenn region, just south of Lavaridge. A small pond. Be careful Lance."
Lance was already astride his giant dragon pokemon, but he nodded his acknowledgment of her caution before taking off into the skies.